Moving ferry out of town could save Mukilteo and Puget Sound

  • By E. Scott Casselman, M.D.
  • Saturday, August 14, 2004 9:00pm
  • Opinion

Albert Einstein once said that the significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that we used when we created those problems in the first place.

Significant problems are rapidly moving in upon Mukilteo. Created by the Port of Everett and other powerful state, county, federal and business agencies, this tsunami of change threatens to obliterate Old Town Mukilteo, while drastically affecting the entire community.

First on the horizon is the imminent construction of the 850-foot Boeing pier, under the direction of the Port of Everett. Boeing needs this pier and Washington state needs Boeing. This facility is going to happen. I understand that.

To minimize the impact of this new industrial activity, I recently proposed an alternative siting plan – “Point the Pier to Clinton” – that minimizes the associated plague of pollution descending upon Mukilteo. The Powerful – the Port of Everett, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Ecology, and by report from the Port of Everett, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – rejected the plan.

The reason: unacceptable ecological consequences for Japanese Gulch.

This is bad for Mukilteo. But it gets worse, much worse.

In the next five years, The Powerful plan to assault Mukilteo’s north shore with 10 additional projects:

* An expanded rail switching yard to allow the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad to better serve the Boeing pier and Paine Field.

* A relocated state ferry terminal that will accommodate more ferries with much bigger capacities, able to move additional vehicles through Mukilteo toward distant final destinations.

* An expensive Sound Transit passenger facility for those passing through Mukilteo.

* A four-story pedestrian bridge over the BNSF tracks to access the Sound Transit platform.

* A new facility for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

* Commercial development of the former tank farm, designed to make a profit for the Port of Everett.

* Construction of a new boat launch for the former Mukilteo State Park.

* A proposed $100 million road up Japanese Gulch.

* A marina.

* Parking for 1,200 vehicles, requiring four times more asphalt now existing at the Mukilteo park.

All this within the 22 acres defining Mukilteo’s northern shoreline!

Phil Bannan, Port of Everett Commissioner, aptly describes this monumental, indeed impossible, undertaking as “too many dogs chasing too few bones.”

Bannan’s right. Unless project parameters are radically changed, the expectation is that little-dog Mukilteo will be mauled by a pack of big-dog powerhouses in the dogfights to follow.

Now entering the picture is a master planning agency – LMN Architects, Inc., a Seattle consulting firm. LMN representative David Schneider has met once with the public to tell us that he is intent on “knitting all these needs together” into one grand concoction.

This project will not knit.

Instead, it will necrose and eviscerate all over Mukilteo’s Old Town, then ooze up the entire Mukilteo Speedway to dissipate on Highway 99 and I-5.

The reason is simple. There are too many projects crammed into too little space.

There is an alternative, however. Move the ferry from Mukilteo.

There are two ways to accomplish this: Route the ferries to Everett and Edmonds, terminals closer to riders’ ultimate destinations, or locate the new ferry terminal at one of the nearby sites to the east, thereby reducing the local and environmental impact.

Mukilteans are progressing with excellent research to support these alternatives.

The result will be a better regional long-term solution to regional growth:

* Four million ferry customers will be brought closer to their desired destinations annually.

* The need for a very expensive multi-modal transportation hub on the northern edge of tiny Mukilteo will disappear.

* The expensive four-story pedestrian bridge across BNSF tracks will vaporize.

* The need for hundreds of parking spaces will vanish.

* Sound Transit saves millions of dollars by building a simple foot-passengers-only platform, while encouraging use of rapid transit.

* Millions of travel miles along I-5 will be eliminated.

* Millions of gallons of gasoline will be conserved.

* Pollution will be lessened.

* Millions of tax dollars will be saved.

* Millions more will remain in taxpayer’s pockets.

* The endless streams of autos choking Mukilteo Speedway will dissipate.

* Commute times for travelers will be shortened.

* Widening of Highway 525 from Paine Field Boulevard to Front Street will not be necessary.

* Crusades to convince the state to build an extravagantly expensive road up the Japanese Gulch greenbelt can stop.

* The reduced shoreline congestion will provide more flexibility for BNSF and Boeing to go about their business.

* Eliminating the huge parking lot and expanded railroad switching yard will allow the Port of Everett to attract higher quality developers to the Mukilteo Landing development on the tank farm, thereby generating more revenues for the port and more tax dollars for Mukilteo.

* Higher quality development “down on the farm” will draw customers from the planned National Flight Information Center/Paine Field hotel complex to the waterfront, a benefit for all three enterprises.

The result: We’d save money like crazy, improve service to meet the current needs of ferry customers, add business bankroll to numerous communities, improve business opportunities at the port’s tank farm – all while saving Mukilteo, one of the most beautiful countenances on the face of the planet, from destruction.

That is called win-win.

I have heard The Powerful say that Mukilteo has a responsibility to the region. I agree. All communities have such an obligation. But the Puget Sound region has an equal responsibility to Mukilteo.

Their current plan is irresponsible. Moving the ferry changes this.

Let’s get back to our knitting.

It’s only fair.

E. Scott Casselman is a resident of Mukilteo.

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