Mountlake Terrace voters handily backing new civic campus

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — On a fourth try, it appears Mountlake Terrace will get a new City Hall and an expanded police station.

The Nov. 7 ballot measure is receiving well over the 60 percent supermajority needed to pass. The greater concern had been whether enough votes would be cast for the proposition to validate. After Monday’s latest election count, the measure had reached both thresholds.

Proposition 1 was a vastly scaled-back version from initial attempts. Previous proposals included a community center as well as a larger City Hall. In 2010, voters rejected a $37.5 million measure.

The most recent proposal was for a $12.5 million, 30-year bond measure. It came after a series of community meetings and discussions with a volunteer City Hall Advisory Committee, which met from January to June.

“This will return City Hall to be right next to the police station,” city manager Scott Hugill said.

Vacant city-owned property off 232nd Street and 58th Avenue will be used for the new City Hall.

The former City Hall opened in 1962 at the civic campus. It was abandoned in 2009 after a collapsed ceiling exposed asbestos. Studies showed that the building wasn’t structurally sound and it was deemed unsafe.

The city has been renting since 2009 at a cost of $400,000 a year.

Design work will begin next year and construction is expected in 2019, Hugill said. The City Hall is expected to be about 18,000 square feet and either two or three stories tall. That will be determined during a community design process. The police station will expand by about 3,100 square feet.

A stand of trees nearby won’t be affected.

“We aren’t building toward Veterans’ Park so all the trees stay,” he said.

As of Monday evening, the bond measure was ahead 2,952 to 1,289. That’s a 69.6 percent “yes” vote. There were 4,241 ballots cast.

More people voted on the bond measure than any of the city’s three contested races for spots on the City Council.

The levy rate from the ballot proposition is expected to be 27 cents per $1,000. That means the owner of a $300,000 home would pay $81 in the first year.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.