A peculiar thing happened at a recent Edmonds City Council meeting. Councilman D.J. Wilson revealed discussions held at a secret meeting of the Edmonds mayor, three council members, two port commissioners, two ferry system reps and various staff members. Based upon those conversations, Wilson has devised a scheme. It is a convoluted series of maneuvers that ultimately produce — guess what? — height increases on the waterfront properties. What other Edmonds issue requires stealth?
Wilson’s proposal didn’t include the Antique Mall. That’s interesting because his scheme leaves the Washington State Ferries free to swap a portion of its 22-acre Unocal tract for the 5-acre mall property. Then the WSF can proceed with its desire to build a large parking garage on that site. A ramp would lead from the garage, under the railroad tracks, and rise onto Railroad Avenue. That would allow cars to access the ferry from the west side of the tracks.
It’s all very clever. The height-increase proponents get what they want, the ferry system gets what it wants and the Port Commission is the enabler. Only Edmonds residents won’t get a chance. The point of Wilson’s whole exercise is to deny voters an opportunity to decide whether they’d like to buy the Antique Mall/Skipper property for public use as they requested in 2008.
At the council meeting Wilson unveiled his plot from the floor although he was not scheduled on the agenda. He was given an unlimited amount of time to both present his plan and to exhort its merits. The city attorney had left before Wilson’s pitch so no procedural advice was available. Only Councilman Michael Plunkett questioned the whole affair.
Natalie Shippen
Edmonds
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