MONROE — The City Council, in a 4-3 decision, approved going forward with a wakeboarding park on Lake Tye on Tuesday night.
The council’s approval allows Sammamish-based H3O Development to begin applying for the necessary permits and doing the surveys in the area.
Councilmen Kevin Hanford, Jim Kamp, Tom Williams and Kurt Goering voted in favor. Councilmembers Patsy Cudaback, Jason Gamble and Ed Davis voted against.
Cudaback said more time should be spent since the decision could change the lake.
“If we only have one proposal, it doesn’t mean we have to accept that proposal,” Cudaback said.
City staff are now cleared to work with H3O and hammer out a contract and an agreement addressing liability issues, economic development manager Jeff Sax said.
There’s no set date of when a formal lease agreement would be presented to the council. It could go before the council in a month, at the earliest, Sax said.
The council can still reject the proposed wakeboarding park, he said. The council’s nonbinding resolution to proceed with discussion was necessary because the park is owned by the city.
H3O wants to build six lattice towers connected by cables on the south end of Lake Tye. The cables would pull wakeboarders around the lake without the need of a boat.
With the approval, managers of H3O now plan to conduct necessary surveys and an environmental study. The reports will help answer issues addressed by Cudaback and other opponents, who are concerned about liability, parking problems and noise created by the wakeboarding park.
“We are moving forward to educate people to understand (wakeboarding),” said Greg Dick, one of the two managers of H3O.
Nine people spoke against the wakeboarding park saying it would disrupt the tranquility and other activities of the lake. One of them was student Krystal Shaver, 29, of Snohomish.
“This is one of the biggest mistakes ever made,” she said after the meeting.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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