Published November 2002

Cities report on economic progress and challenges

SCBJ Staff

“Every town and city in this county, from Index to Everett, is looking to increase economic activity in their community,” Marysville Mayor Dave Weiser told his audience at the third North Snohomish County Summit, held in October at the Tulalip Inn.

The morning session proved his point as Weiser and representatives from Arlington, Darrington, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and the Tulalip Tribes presented their communities’ progress — and challenges — in moving toward greater economic development.

Here are some of the things they see happening.

Arlington
Although Arlington has yet to adopt a formal economic development plan, the city is positioned for future growth, Planning Manager Cliff Strong said.

He credited four things for the city’s current situation: past commercial and industrial land zoning that took into account Arlington Airport’s potential and the need for future development; historically low tax rates; no business and occupation tax; and the city’s access to transportation links, including state and interstate highways, a railroad line, and an airport.

Looking to the future, the city doubled the capacity of its sewage treatment plant during the past couple of years, from 1 million to 2 million gallons a day, and built a new water treatment plant, he said.

Arlington also is working with the state Department of Transportation to widen and improve the Smokey Point I-5 overpass and on- and off-ramps; planning to widen 67th Avenue NE to three and four lanes from 172nd Street NE to 204th Street NE; and assembling a reconstruction plan for N. Olympic Avenue, its downtown thoroughfare.

City officials are also working on the City Commons project, which could include a new police station, city hall, town square and other public facilities, such as a library. Strong said the city hopes to begin construction on the project some time next year. One of the city’s major future projects is planning for Westside Business Park, 124 acres of city-owned land on the southwest corner of Arlington Airport that could house 1.3 million square feet of office, light industrial and manufacturing space.

Darrington
“Darrington’s a place to come, visit and have a great time,” Deputy Clerk Michelle Vincent said, describing the town well known for its annual rodeo, Bluegrass Festival and Classic Rock Festival events. Recently, the city has been developing a community park with new bathroom facilities and building a complex of baseball fields.

Along with enhancing its tourism industry, Darrington has been busy with other economic development activities, including making improvements to its municipal airport by paving its landing strip and taxiway. Grant money raised by a volunteer organization built a day-care facility, which has enabled many residents to pursue additional schooling or commute to jobs outside the community, Vincent said.

Employment within the community faced some changes earlier this year as Darrington’s largest employer, the Summit Timber Co. mill, was sold to Hampton Affiliates of Portland, Ore. However, the new ownership could mean a more stable existence and possible expansion, Vincent said, adding that there is talk of a proposed co-generation plant with National Energy Systems Co., or NESCO, of Kirkland, which could add 20 jobs in Darrington.

Granite Falls
With about 1,000 gravel trucks rolling through Granite Falls daily to get to quarries just outside of town, the city is “looking for money, money and more money” to build a truck route around town, said Paul Craggs of the Greater Granite Falls Chamber of Commerce’s economic development committee.

“And it doesn’t look like, in these wonderful economic times, that we’re going to find it unless we get it from the feds, and that’s probably one of our biggest campaigns this coming year will be to try to get some dollars, probably $20 million or so,” he said. If and when that truck route becomes reality, Granite Falls will have a real opportunity to address its downtown area, he said.

“Granite Falls has fortunately retained most of the original buildings from the turn-of-the-century era, and we’re in fact exploring the possibility of a historic district in the coming year,” Craggs said, noting that another of the town’s assets is the Mountain Loop Highway, which brings tourists and hikers through the town. But tourism aside, Granite Falls also is looking at ways to expand its industrial and tax base, with the city initiating a plan to get more infrastructure to its industrial land, Craggs said.

He added that Granite Falls is nearly built out, situated as it is between two rivers and the Cascades. To increase its urban growth area, the community will have to have a wastewater treatment facility capable of handling added growth.

“We’re small, but we’re scrappy,” he said. “Land is cheap, and we have a simple, streamlined permitting process,” Craggs said.

Lake Stevens
After years of focusing on annexing more property into the city, Lake Stevens City Council member Jack Blackwell said the city has refocused its efforts on development within the city.

“We think we’ve got to change our ways ... focusing our energy into the city,” he said, noting the city began as a mill town, turned into a resort community and is now a bedroom community. Retail development, such as a proposed shopping center on Highway 92, may be the future for the city’s economic base, he said.

Blackwell said one potential blow to the city’s economy is the coming relocation of Agilent Technologies from its 130-acre campus on Soper Hill Road where the business employs 200 workers.

Marysville
Mayor Weiser reported that Marysville has been busy cultivating relationships with other government and economic development organizations throughout Snohomish County, including meeting regularly with the Smokey Point Area Chamber of Commerce, the Arlington City Council and the North County Mayors Association to discuss land-use and storm-water issues.

The city is also putting agreements in place with Arlington and Lake Stevens to use Marysville’s jail and court space. “These agreements help Marysville financially. They help Arlington financially. They help Lake Stevens financially,” Weiser said.

City officials are also meeting regularly with the Marysville School District; enrolling as members of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council and working in partnership with Everett and the Kimberly-Clark Corp. on a 4-mile pipeline from Marysville’s treatment plant to a new proposed plant, then into a deep-water outfall in Port Gardner Bay. Marysville’s portion of the project is about $40 million.

Within the city itself, there’s a lot of community development on the planning boards, Weiser said, including the Ebey Waterfront Park at First Street and Highway 529, which includes 5.4 acres on the shores of Ebey Slough in the Snohomish River delta. The $2.1 million plan includes a four-lane boat launch, parking, restrooms and picnic areas. The city is in the final planning stages.

A major arterial project, widening State Street from First Street north to Grove Street will start next year. That $3.3 million project will include trees, curbs, gutters and sidewalks, as well as historic-designed lights.

Weiser said the city plans to go to bid on the project in February, start construction in June and finish sometime in the summer of 2004.

Also, the first phase of Marysville’s Strawberry Fields athletic park on 152nd Street NE east of Shoultes Road will include three soccer fields and trails, with future development possibly including softball fields and more soccer fields. Weiser said the city has converted its planning department into a community development department and has worked to streamline the permitting process.

Tulalip Tribes
The Tulalip Tribes, known for their bingo hall and casino, have been working aggressively in the past few years to diversify their economic base, Government Affairs Director John McCoy said.

The focus of that diversification has been Quil Ceda Village, which already is home to Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores, the Quil Ceda Neighborhood Center retail hub and a 220,000-square-foot casino complex now under construction and expected to open in June. About 90,000 square feet of the complex will be dedicated to gaming, McCoy said. The complex also will have five restaurants, one of which will be focused on high-end dining. To go along with the casino, the tribes are planning to construct a convention center large enough to hold events with 3,000 attendees, as well as a hotel.

As soon as this spring, construction could begin on two other phases of Quil Ceda Village: an upscale mall with as many as 120 stores and a retail center of big-box stores such as Michael’s or PetSmart, McCoy said. Another project waiting in the wings for Quil Ceda Village is a Krispy Kreme doughnut store, McCoy said. Other future developments in the works are a water theme park and a 24-hour day-care facility.

The site would still have more than a thousand acres of land for other development, McCoy said, adding that the Tulalip board and his staff will meet in November to prioritize and plan what the tribes will do with that property in the decade to come.

“A Washington State Higher Education Board study a few years ago said there needs to be a four-year university north of the Snohomish River. We’ve got the land mass. We could work together to pull this off,” he told summit attendees.

McCoy also said the tribes are interested in what other county communities have to offer visitors to Quil Ceda Village, such as Darrington’s Bluegrass Festival, Arlington’s Fly-In and numerous golf courses around the county.

“We want to be able to take our customers out to you because not everybody wants to game,” he said.

Other tribal projects include: road-widening projects, including the 116th Street I-5 overpass, which could be under construction by next fall; a membrane-technology sewage plant already under construction; plus plans for a 10- to 30-acre man-made wetland.

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