WOODWAY — Eagerness to help shape the future of a town that faces major growth issues in the coming years is the common denominator of the candidates for Woodway’s Town Council this year.
Peter Block, 69, is asking voters to return him to the council on which he has served since 1994 so he can continue work on protecting the quality of life Woodway residents enjoy.
Topping the list of the most important issues facing the wooded community abutting Edmonds is future development and possible annexation by Woodway of the Point Wells site to the south. Block said his past chairmanship of the town’s Point Wells advisory committee not only armed Woodway with information about potential development of the bluff and waterfront sites there, but helped prepare Woodway for its involvement in the development of the Point Edwards condominiums to the north.
Block has professional experience in engineering management and was an executive with a seafood/commercial fishing operation. He has lived in Woodway 30 years and in the Puget Sound area for 50 years.
Block’s wife, Mary Lou, is a commissioner for the Port of Edmonds. The couple have two children and two grandchildren.
Noting that his decision to run against the incumbent springs from his desire to volunteer in town government and not necessarily dissatisfcation with the status quo, Mike Quinn also has filed for Position 4.
Quinn, his wife, Kris, and their four daughters have lived in Woodway since 2000. Except for a three-year, job-related relocation to Ireland, the Quinns have called the Puget Sound area home for some time.
“I wanted to be more involved in the community and help keep the uniqueness of Woodway,” said Quinn, who is general manager of the original equipment manufacturing division of Microsoft. “I’m not unhappy with the council, I just want a voice in how Woodway grows in years to come,” he said.
Quinn, 44, said he also is concerned about the potential impact of the Point Wells project on the quality of life in Woodway, which long has cherished its woodsy landscapes and relative privacy. He said his leadership roles and financial responsibilities at Microsoft will serve his well in the council post.
Town Council Position No. 5
Henry Veldman, who turns 60 this month, is a former member of the town’s planning commission who was appointed to the council in 2006.
As with the other candidates for the open positions, Veldman said he sees maintaining the quality of life currently enjoyed by Woodway residents as his top priority.
Specifically, Veldman said maintaining that quality “while managing growth and resulting changes’ from the changing demographics in the quiet and upscale community is the challenge Woodway faces. More younger families are moving there, he said, and they reflect, in some cases, different expectations.
The fact the town has minimal access to sales-tax revenue and depends mainly on property-tax revenue also is an issue that needs attention in the face of growth, he said.
Veldman said the Point Wells project is a “potentially … very exciting development that if planned well, like Point Edwards, could turn into a positive development.” Yet possible annexation by Woodway of the area, that may bring with it a population more than double Woodway’s current one, could put a “strain on city services,” he said.
“I think I bring balance … I deal with disparate views all the time,” Veldman said of future town discussion of growth issues. He is chief executive officer of Western Washington Medical Group that is headquartered in Everett.
He and is wife Anita, a registered nurse, moved to Woodway in 1996 from California. Prior to coming to Washington, Veldman was with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program for 27 years.
Kevin Fiske, 57, would like 2007 to be the year he moves from the Woodway Planning Commission to the Town Council.
Fiske, who is in the forest-products industry, said he is running for the post because he “loves Woodway and wants to protect and preserve it as much as possible.” He admits he was “kinda talked into running” by friends who think he’ll make a good representative.
Subdividing large tracts of land in Woodway is one important issue Fiske said he sees on the horizon. “I just want to make sure things are done right,” he said.
Point Wells also is on his radar as a resident and possibly an elected official. “If we take in Point Wells, that might change dramatically what happens here. It will mean a greater population than we have (here) now,” he said.
He said he’s concerned, too, about residents resurrecting the idea of Woodway joining the Sno-Isle Libraries system. The idea, which was rejected soundly by voters the last time it surfaced, “is going to be incredibly expensive to those of us with larger tracts of land,” he said.
Fiske and his wife, Sara Carter, have lived in Woodway since 2004.
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