Robles, Maynard in Terrace council race

The race for the Mountlake Terrace’s City Council’s Position 5 seat pits a longtime resident against a relative newcomer.

In this case, incumbent Michelle Robles, a Bartell’s pharmacy manager serving her first term on the council, is being challenged by Sharon Riegle Maynard, who in her three years in the city has accumulated a following by becoming a leader within the Town Center neighborhood.

“Right now, Mountlake Terrace is the place where we’re ready to see new visions,” said Maynard, who founded both Mountlake Terrace Citizen Voices to offer a meeting ground for communication and Bears in the Terrace to thank local businesses.

Robles said she’s seeking re-election because she wants to keep working on projects that she helped put into action as a council member.

“The biggest thing I’m proud of is that I worked very hard to change the management position of the council so that we’re more open and responsive to the community,” Robles said.

Maynard was sharply critical of the Town Center Plan approved by the council in February. She said there’s nothing wrong with revitalizing downtown, as long as it reflects “what the citizens want.”

“I’m very committed to being a voice for the people,” she said.

Downtown Edmonds, which has no building more than three stories high, would have served as a better model for the Town Center than allowing some buildings as tall as seven stories, though Maynard said she has yet to resolve for herself the benefits and disadvantages of allowing taller buildings within the super block downtown as part of the future Town Center.

“We can have the vitality citizens want,” she said. “It can be an Edmonds type, which is what I’d say 80 percent of (citizens) are saying. Is it going to require seven stories? That’s an issue I have not resolved.”

Robles said she remembers when she was growing up, “you could pretty much never leave Mountlake Terrace and shop for everything you wanted, except clothing.”

She disagreed with Maynard about Edmonds being a good model for Mountlake Terrace to follow.

“It’s hard to transfer what works well in one city and make it work in Mountlake Terrace,” she said.

Robles said she “wasn’t gung-ho” about an early proposal for either 10-story or seven-story buildings within the super block but agreed to a compromise to move forward with the project.

“I do know I have to give opportunities to developers such that when they do come in, it’s successful,” she said.

As to the question of whether City Hall should be replaced, Maynard said remodeling or replacing City Hall should not be as high of a priority as creation of a community center.

“We’re looking at a downtown area that is empty and non-active,” she said. “You need citizens coming out, being involved; a place to come that is going to bring the next level of economic development.”

Robles said a new City Hall is important but agreed with Maynard it doesn’t top the list of priorities now. She said she’d like to see a multi-cultural community center, perhaps one that includes a senior center where children and seniors interact.

“At some point, probably the near future, it is going to need to be replaced,” she said. “As a City Council member, I do have a responsibility to employees that work in that building to make sure it’s safe for them.”

Robles said moving City Hall would “not be an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars” and said developers should help pay the future costs instead of taxpayers.