MUKILTEO — It’s not a matter of taking paradise and putting up a parking lot.
In this case, it’s a retrofit of the former Air Force “tank farm” that could add another couple hundred parking spaces to the Mukilteo waterfront.
State lawmakers included a $500,000 appropriation in the capital budget for parking near the new ferry terminal expected to open in early 2020. The proposed parking lot is on property now owned by the Tulalip Tribes.
The collaboration with the tribes will provide spaces for people who commute from Whidbey Island or visit for a day or longer, something Port of South Whidbey Commissioner Curt Gordon has been chasing for about 10 years.
“Everything in Mukilteo is four-hour parking maximum, and that’s the basis of this whole problem,” Gordon said. “You gotta have some place to park. This has been a problem for 20 years.”
He said parking is needed for island tourism and for residents. “The only way we can save the middle class on South Whidbey is to allow people to commute from here, because the island isn’t very pro-development or pro-industry,” he said.
After exploring other options to no avail, Gordon sought the help of the tribes for a parking lot with a possible 250 stalls.
He said the tribes will own, operate and build the lot, but not fund the construction. It is not a permanent solution.
“My commitment to them was, ‘If you can give us a space to park on for at least 10 years, I’ll do everything I can to figure out how to cover your capital costs,’ ” Gordon said.
“They’ll run it and set aside a large number of spots for visitors to Whidbey … maybe it would be 75 or 100 stalls where you can go anytime and leave your car.”
These spaces will be open to anybody. “It won’t be that you have to prove that you went to Whidbey Island,” Gordon said.
From the $500,000, about $130,000 is for permitting and site engineering with the rest for preliminary construction.
It’s not a done deal, but it’s a sweet down payment.
“It’s recognition by our representatives and senators that there’s a need,” said Gordon, who is applying for grants. “It’s going to cost a couple million dollars to do the full build-out. This gives us a better shot.”
Is it good for Mukilteo?
“I guess so,” said Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson, whose staff has been working with the port and tribes on the agreement required to construct the proposed lot.
“Parking is definitely a challenge on our waterfront and having additional options is a benefit. In the long term, I don’t know if a lot of surface parking is our vision for our waterfront. In the short term, providing options for people who want to visit Whidbey Island is beneficial because lots of times people look to park in neighborhoods and impact our residents.”
The ferry area borders Mukilteo’s Old Town, which has homes, the Rosehill Community Center and small businesses with mostly street parking.
Mukilteo residents with parking tags can park free and for longer than four hours, but not overnight, in Lighthouse Park and other paid slots.
Demand exceeds supply of the $175 monthly permit parking in the city-owned commuter lot with 100 spots behind the Diamond Knot Brewery & Alehouse.
“There are at least 50 people on the wait list,” Gregerson said.
She said the city is researching a parking garage behind Diamond Knot. “We are doing a parking feasibility study to look at that right now.”
Other ferry parking options include a lot by a private developer where the holding lanes are now and the city lot near Silver Cloud Inn, she said.
“The ferry terminal will not have any public parking, just kind of a drop-off for people who are riding,” she said.
Mukilteo City Council President Steve Schmalz said it takes more than a village to provide all the parking needed for the new terminal and commuters.
“It’s a bigger issue that the (Washington State) Ferries and Sound Transit need to be involved in,” Schmalz said. “They need to support their customers. The city shouldn’t be solving their parking issues alone on this. The tribes looking at parking is an option to help solve those problems.”
State Sen. Marko Liias said in a text message that he asked for the funding at the request of a coalition of partners including the Port and the city of Mukilteo.
“As the waterfront is being redeveloped, the vision is a more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly area, but in the meantime there is a need for interim parking solutions for commuters, local residents and visitors to the popular waterfront destinations,” he wrote. “Likely it will be self-supporting, plus there are city parking taxes as well.”
Waterfront parking has been and will likely remain a premium.
“There’s probably never enough parking,” Gregerson said.
Andrea Brown, 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter @reporterbrown.
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