The Mill Creek City Council unanimously approved a six-year capital facilities plan on Tuesday, July 25, but not until almost a dozen citizens weighed in on the plan.
Most of those who spoke talked about the need for a senior center in the community. A senior center was considered for inclusion in the plan, but was ultimately left out of the plan – for now – in favor of forming a committee to plan for a center.
“We hear you,” Mayor Donna Michelson said. “I want you to know that we’ve taken the first step. You are being heard.”
Still, Michelson’s comments, made during the public comment period, didn’t stop eight people, including state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, from addressing the topic and lobbying the Council for such a facility. Many of those who spoke commended the Council for taking care of the youth in the community thanks to numerous park projects, but asked that seniors now be shown the same courtesy.
Laura Ann Reid of Mill Creek, who is the chair of the senior program’s facility committee, said that soon local seniors will have a “concrete plan” in place on a building design, location and cost. The city’s committee, which includes senior program director Bill Durham and Michelson, is working toward a similar goal.
Reid said the group expects to narrow its search to one site and plans to submit that to the Council for inclusion in the capital facilities plan. Even though the six-year plan was approved, it can be amended.
“It’s in the forefront of our minds,” Mayor pro-tem Terry Ryan said about a senior center. “It’s something we’d like to do. The key is how do we do it. We almost rushed into a community center that would’ve lost (more than $200,000 a year). We need to find a way to build a center that can pay for itself. It’s not in anyone’s interest to rush this.”
All of the dozen seniors who turned out for public comment didn’t stick around for the public hearing on the capital facilities plan. Instead, four people spoke in favor a project that will build a spur trail from the North Creek Trail to North Creek Presbyterian Church. The trail will include a bridge over the creek and is proposed for completion next year.
“I think it’s going to get a lot of use,” said Bill Trimm, the city’s director of community development.
One major change to the plan was the inclusion of an estimated $50,000 to alter a median and landscaping along Bothell-Everett Highway near the Merrill Gardens retirement community, which Ryan requested. Residents there have complained of difficulty making left turns out of the facility’s parking lot. The money will cover those repairs not made by the state Department of Transportation.
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