EDMONDS — Walk along the waterfront and it’s easy to forget about cars.

Traffic gives way to the sound of waves, screeching seagulls and ferry horns and the scent of salty air. Mothers push strollers along the brick path at Brackett’s Landing Park even on chilly days.

On nicer days, people wander the beach and scramble over rocks that jut into the water.

Just a short distance away, the city’s center offers a different world.

It’s a classic downtown with banks and real estate offices and boutique shops with wine, cheese, specialty clothing and other goods.

Getting between these two can be a challenge.

First, there’s the daily line of cars along Sunset Avenue waiting for the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. Get past that and you have to cross the railroad tracks and, possibly, wait for a train before you reach the waterfront.

City leaders would like to find a way to better connect the city’s downtown to its waterfront. They also want to see more unified development in a collection of properties that sit in a sort of no-man’s land between the two: from just south of Dayton Street at Railroad Avenue to Main Street.

That is the heart of the reason the City Council considered purchasing the former Skippers Seafood ‘N Chowder House property, 120 Main St., which lies vacant between downtown and the waterfront.

Although that deal fell apart last week, nearly everyone agrees that something should be done to better connect the downtown with the waterfront. But shaping the future of this area is proving contentious.

Some argue that the city needs to allow higher buildings to attract investment. Others argue that higher buildings would destroy the city’s character.

An ambitious plan to move the ferry terminal and rail station was put on hold with the economy devastating the state’s budget.

Political and economic obstacles continue to block a consensus.

“I’ve never heard one person say I want zero development,” said Stephen Clifton, the city’s Community and Economic Development director. “The question has always been: What should be done on those properties? That’s been the struggle: creating a unified vision for what these properties could become.”

Dreams postponed

This isn’t the first time Edmonds has attempted to make over this part of the city. A 12-year study and environmental analysis led to one of the grandest plans, called Edmonds Crossing, which in 2005 called for moving the ferry terminal, the city’s train depot and bus stops to a single point nearly a mile south to Point Edwards, site of a former oil storage facility south of the marina.

Making the change was seen as a way to improve safety, address growth of ferry ridership and improve the connection between the waterfront and downtown.

That project went into hibernation last year because of the state’s tight budget. Now, it likely won’t happen for another 20 to 30 years, Clifton said.

Another attempt occurred four years ago, when the city and the Port of Edmonds looked at how to develop two prominent properties near the waterfront.

One is the Port-owned Harbor Square, a 14.6-acre collection of single-story offices and shops as well as a restaurant.

The other is the Antique Mall, an old strip mall that sits on 4.3 acres and once included a Safeway. Many of the offices and shops in that development are empty. It’s owned by a partnership called ESC Associates of Seattle.

In 2006, a former city councilman and a Port commissioner held a series of meetings on what to do with those properties. They provided information they gathered to a group of residents and businesspeople, but nothing came from the discussions.

Today, the Port still wants to see its Harbor Square property redeveloped. Consultants last year looked at what it would take to make a redeveloped Harbor Square financially viable, offering alternatives such as keeping the same building heights or allowing a mix of condos and shops up to five stories in height.

“We’re at the very early stages,” said Port Director Robert McChesney. Even under the best of economic conditions, it could be years before the site is redeveloped, he said.

“There’s really no way to rush that process,” he said.

Fear of heights?

Building heights have always been a lightning rod issue here, particularly when it comes to buildings on or near the waterfront.

Al Dykes knows all about the controversy.

He’s managing partner for ESC Associates, which has owned the Antique Mall for 25 years.

Dykes says he’d love to improve his property but the city’s height restrictions, which limit buildings next to the waterfront to two stories, make it financially unworkable.

“Can you think of any property in the Puget Sound area that is located next to (transit) that is encumbered by a 25-foot height limit?” Dykes asked. “Nobody in their right mind would tear down a one-story facility and replace it with a one-story facility.”

To redevelop the site, Dykes proposed building a condominium complex called Sunset Landing, a 30,000-square-foot project that would consist of two condominium buildings, one six-stories and another seven. He said two buildings would leave at least some view of the water between them.

Dykes there are other tall buildings near his property. The five-story Ebb Tide condominium is near his land, although it was built before height restrictions. Without new development, the city’s finances will suffer, Dykes said.

“What increasingly will occur is the local residential property tax will take the brunt of the local financial catastrophe of Edmonds,” Dykes said. “Because retail will basically die on the vine.”

The city is reviewing his request to alter zoning rules so he can triple the height restrictions for his property.

Mayor Gary Haakenson thinks Dykes’ request goes too far beyond the height restrictions.

“There needs to be some compromise on the part of the ownership to our current building height(s) … and if they were to do so, I believe they would get a reasonable hearing from citizens and from everyone else,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

Karen Wiggins, owner of a three-story condo and office building on Second Avenue S., said she fears if the city agrees to Dykes’ request, Sunset Landing will block her view and keep people from buying her condos.

“I can see what this would look like,” she said. “You’d come down the hill, you wouldn’t even see water or maybe mountains, just buildings. It takes away everything we have, everything we treasure.”

Edmonds also is stuck in political gridlock because of building heights, said Jan Vance, executive director of the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce.

“I think that, unfortunately, the overall subject of building heights seems to be a big stopping point,” she said. “One group of citizens are very vocal: they don’t even want to negotiate anything different. That same group of people have voted in a number of City Council members, so they now have the majority.”

Skippers sale falls through

When the Skippers property came up for sale this year, it offered the city a chance to take control of one of the properties that divides the waterfront and downtown.

That’s why a 5-2 majority of the City Council decided to make a $1.1 million offer for the land, one-third of an acre on Main Street just before the ferry terminal.

Councilwoman Adrienne Fraley-Monillas said she saw this as a first step toward reconnecting downtown and the waterfront. She hoped the city would put in a park and tourist information center.

“I envision having a fountain sort of environment with a tourist sort of station that has information in it as far as where to shop, where to eat,” she said more than a week ago. “It’s a connection to the downtown. And, frankly, if we don’t buy it, once it’s bought by somebody else, it’ll be gone.”

The deal fell through last week, but the city hopes it can still get the land.

The city had asked the property owner, Cascade Bank, for more time to do environmental assessments. Council President Steve Bernheim said after an executive council session that the city didn’t get that extension, so the written offer lapsed.

Councilman Michael Plunkett said that doesn’t mean the city won’t continue to pursue the property.

“Who knows?” Plunkett said. “I don’t know if the seller will come back in a day or so and say, ‘Let’s see if we can put this back together.’”

One of the stumbling blocks for the sale is the city’s finances.

Councilman D.J. Wilson opposed buying the land, arguing that it makes little sense for the city to buy property without either a plan for it or money to pay for it.

Nothing to the north

Bernheim said despite the brainstorming sessions and all the good ideas, the council has yet to see a formal proposal from anyone interested in redeveloping properties near the north waterfront.

“I think that the Port has the highest responsibility of everybody,” he said. “It’s the public entity that can exercise its power for the public benefit. They’ve got a great property. It’s a real opportunity to do something great for the city and the port district.”

Port Commissioner Bruce Faires said the Port’s experiences four years ago examining redevelopment prospects for the Antique Mall left it wary and with a sense that, “Hey we ain’t touchin’ that with a 10-foot pole.” For now, the Port’s focus is on the future of Harbor Square, where 70 percent of its 102,450 square feet of commercial space is leased.

The Washington Department of Transportation, which operates the ferry, would like someone to build a pedestrian bridge or underpass to get ferry passengers more safely past the train tracks. In exchange, they’d offer the to let the city have the parking lot they own next to the Skippers property, said Dan Tharp of WSDOT.

One group of residents is moving forward with what it hopes is a way to at start a broader conversation among stakeholders with conflicting interests.

Residents Jack Faris and Faye Maye are leading an effort they call “Imagine Edmonds.” They say they’d like more people to talk about their shared vision for the city and spend less time on issues that divide.

Faris calls Imagine Edmonds “a number of people who are open-minded about the future of Edmonds.”

“Our premise is that if we can get a relatively large number of Edmonds citizens involved with creative energy and thinking, they will open to possibilities that wouldn’t be evident otherwise,” Faris said.

Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com.

Correction

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the ferry route linking Edmonds and Kingston. The story has been corrected.