LYNNWOOD — City Councilman Martin Nelson and his challengers, Mark Smith and Craig Spicer, share an optimistic view of Lynnwood’s future, but they have different ideas about how the city should grow.
Smith, a 43-year-old father of two young children, wants Lynnwood to be a family-friendly city. The most important priority for council members should be the city’s quality of life, not the bottom line, he said.
“Families are the cornerstone of our community,” Smith said.
Spicer, 47, a small-business owner and neighborhood advocate, wants Lynnwood to balance the needs of neighborhoods and businesses.
“I want to make the city a friendlier place to do business and a friendlier place to live,” Spicer said.
Nelson, 70, who is seeking a second term in office, believes the city center is key to the city’s future and will benefit the whole city. The plan is a 20-year plan to create a roughly 300-acre, dense urban center located southwest of the 196th Street exit on Interstate 5.
“I just want to spend another four years helping develop the program and getting it off the ground,” Nelson said.
The three challengers will compete in the Sept. 20 Primary. The top two vote-getters will advance to the General election in November.
Nelson said one of his proudest achievements as a council member is pushing for rezoning the city center area.
“I am totally sold on the city center project,” said Nelson, a retired civil engineer. “That has been my whole life – building. I have a lot of experience in construction.”
Smith hopes the city center will showcase public spaces and parks as well as “green tech,” technology that is environmentally friendly. The city center is also an opportunity to build more housing required by the state’s Growth Management Act, Smith said.
“We do not have a choice about whether the people are going to come here,” Smith said. “We do have a choice about where we put them.”
In addition to the city center, Spicer said the city could consider allowing additional mixed-use developments or multiple family housing along Highway 99, which is already zoned for multiple family housing. The area is near businesses and existing bus routes.
Spicer also wants to make it a priority to attract entrepreneurs to the city, especially to the city center.
“The business community needs to know the city is behind them,” said Spicer. “If we can draw entrepreneurs to the city, they will start businesses here and stay here.”
Spicer and Smith agree that the city and developers need to share the cost for infrastructure improvements for the city center.
“We are on the cusp of an economic boom in the city of Lynnwood,” Spicer said. “People are going to come from all over the world to Lynnwood to buy real estate.”
Spicer said he does not support raising taxes, but the city will have to find a way to pay its share “one bite at a time.” Spicer suggested earmarking tax revenues generated in the city center for city center improvements.
Smith said developers have to “step up to the plate” and pay mitigation fees to make city center happen. If the city can find anchor businesses, it might be able to ease some of the developers’ anxiety, Smith said.
“We need to find a way to do this together,” he said.
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