Mill Creek city officials are looking to find a solution short of closing a trail in the wake of citizen complaints about crime.
A group of owners from the Rivendale condominums in the northern part of the city came before the City Council on July 26 to express their concerns and lobby for a solution to what they said are increasing vandalism and drug use.
The final impetus for bringing their concerns to the Council was a July 14 incident, in which a teenage couple had sex in the woods within earshot and sight of several condominiums.
“I won’t walk down the path and I won’t let my wife do so either,” Rivendale resident Stephen Nix told the Council on July 26.
Bill Wiley of Cedar Cross United Methodist Church, which plans to build a private school on property bordering the trail, had similar concerns. He said he found a used condom wrapper, but no condoms.
“I’m concerned that children who use the woods for our day programs might find the used condom.”
The unnamed trail in question runs from the area of the Rivendale and Montera condominiums to the Gateway Shopping Center at 132nd Street SE. and Bothell-Everett Highway. It passes through a heavily wooded area, past some property belonging to Cedar Cross United Methodist Church toward the Safeway grocery store. The trail is part of a city-wide trail system meant to encourage pedestrians and ease traffic on local roads.
Nonetheless, some Rivendale residents wanted the city to close the trail.
“Rivendale is a community that is, in effect, a private little community,” said Russ Read, president of the Rivendale Homeowners Association. “We don’t need all these people walking on our property.”
But not all Rivendale residents want the trail closed. Richard Lathrope told the Council to avoid an action that would be like “Nazi Germany.
“We mustn’t let these people rule the way we live,” Lathrope said about his neighbors who want the trail closed to the public, adding that they want to “impose their will on others.”
The city’s intent, meanwhile, is more consistent with what Lathrope wished.
“Closing (the trail) would be contrary to our comprehensive plan and city policy,” city manager Steve Nolen said. “We have no plans to close the trail.”
Rivendale residents, along with an attorney, met with city community development director Bill Trimm on July 28 to discuss ways to reach a compromise. The city’s main goal in this case, Trimm says, is to “mitigate the impacts of the trail.
“I went out and looked at it, and we can improve the visibility,” Trimm said. “We can put up a black chain-link fence to keep trespassers off private property. Our whole idea is to do certain improvements to minimize the impacts of questionable activity.”
City staff will report back to the Council regarding the issue of crime on the trail when the elected body returns to work in September.
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