MILL CREEK
Last year, Nancy Enselman heard a woman scream, and she poked her head out of her townhouse window to find out why.
That’s when she saw a man pinning a woman against a fence. Concerned for the woman’s safety, Enselman, 50, asked if anything was wrong.
“She yelled at me, ‘Mind your own business, you bleepity, bleepity bleep,’” she said.
Enselman and her neighbors say yelling and rude behavior are common along a public walkway through Rivendale, a 76-unit collection of privately owned townhouses just off Dumas Road.
Residents say they’re the unlucky inheritors of a deal struck in the 1990s between the city and Rivendale’s developer, Wakefield Homes.
In exchange for the right to build, the developer in 1996 agreed to add a pedestrian pathway through Rivendale that gave pedestrians from neighboring apartment buildings quick access to the nearby Gateway Shopping Center.
The Rivendale homeowners association has asked the city for permission to limit pathway access to Rivendale residents. About 15 people attended a Mill Creek Planning Commission Sept. 17.
“What we’re really talking about here is a private-property-rights issue versus a public good,” said Russ Read, president of the Rivendale at Mill Creek Home Owners Association.
The city should leave the pathway where it is because it meets all the requirements of city and state land use and transportation regulations, senior planner Christi Amrine told the commission.
“Mill Creek’s noted for its walkability and connectivity,” she said.
The city’s public works director and police chief also recommended keeping the walkway open.
In a memo to Amrine, Police Chief Bob Crannel wrote that the number of reported crimes along the pathway was about average for apartments and condos citywide.
Walking paths are a common site in this city of 18,000. The nearby North Creek Trail, built over private property, gives pedestrians a connection between the Mill Creek Town Center and Snohomish County’s McCollum Park in South Everett. The city’s main land-use plan emphasizes pedestrian and bicycle connections.
Those intentions may be noble, residents say, but the public walkway through Rivendale is an unfair imposition. To make matters, worse, Read said, the city’s attitude toward Rivendale residents has been less than helpful.
“We’ve never had a recommendation for what to do other than, ‘deal with it,’” Read said.
In public testimony, residents complained about safety issues and said the city should also be concerned about its liability for any injuries that happen. Passersby walk past garage doors on their way to the pathway that leads to the shopping center.
“I would hate to be the city if some kid gets hit by a car,” resident Bob Lee told commissioners.
Enselman said she has to be extra careful backing out of her garage because of all the people who pass through Rivendale.
“I can tell you right now, I’ve almost hit people,” she said. “I’ve learned I need to back out of my garage in inch increments.”
Neighbors’ concerns about safety struck a chord with city officials.
After listening to complaints, community development director Bill Trimm asked that the commission to postpone a decision and give city planners more time to come up with an alternative.
They agreed to continue the public hearing on Oct. 22, with a final decision to follow.
Enselman said after the meeting she was happy with the city’s response to residents’ concerns.
“I was encouraged they were willing to take a step back and at least consider something they hadn’t heard before,” Enselman said.
Oscar Halpert writes for the Herald of Everett.
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