Mukilteo eyes waterfront parking options

MUKILTEO – More parking is needed on the city’s waterfront. It’s often overrun with people looking for parking at Lighthouse Park, downtown restaurants or other nearby businesses.

On Monday night, the Mukilteo City Council is scheduled to consider approving a study that will take a look at the options for building a parking garage with up to 552 parking spaces. It’s expected to face little opposition.

No city money is required to go ahead with the study. Instead, the $47,500 study will be paid for with $35,000 from Sound Transit, $10,000 from the Port of South Whidbey and $2,500 from Island County. Mukilteo will donate staff time to manage the project.

The study will examine four possible sites for the parking garage: property on the former tank farm near the Mukilteo ferry terminal scheduled to open in 2019; property near Lighthouse Park; a site on Second Street and Park Avenue; and one on the lower parking lot of Rosehill Community Center.

“It’s always been part of the plan to provide more parking when the tank farm was redeveloped,” said Mayor Jennifer Gregerson. In February the Mukilteo City Council approved the transfer of seven acres in and around the former tank farm from the port to the city.

People are coming to the waterfront area for a number of reasons, she said, including Sound Transit commuters who want to park and take the train, ferry users and Island County ferry commuters who want to walk on and pick up their parked cars in Mukilteo, and visitors to the beach and nearby businesses.

“Everybody has their reasons for visiting,” she said. “It makes sense to focus that parking so there’s not cars all over the waterfront.”

Plans for how the former tank farm property would be used have included a proposal for parking next to the new ferry terminal on property that will be owned by Sound Transit, she said.

The study is expected to take nine months to complete. Sound Transit has money set aside for construction of a garage, Gregerson said.

The garage could open by 2019, when the new ferry terminal is scheduled to open. “Some of the other sites not on the tank farm could happen sooner,” Gregerson said.

It’s possible that a second garage might be built as phase two of the project.

Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said money from two sources in her county was put into the garage site study because increased parking in Mukiteo is key to people making transportation connections to and from Whidbey Island.

Areas that used to be used for overnight parking in Mukilteo were significantly decreased by the development of Lighthouse Park, she said.

“Our commuters present challenges for them,” Price Johnson said. “I know the ferry lines extending up into the reaches of their city is a cause for concern. It’s one of the things we’re trying to address by getting this parking garage.”

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.