In the state budget, there is $300,000 allotted to Stanwood for a study to find a site for a new city hall. The general idea seems to be to locate the city hall, police station and library — not a bad idea to locate them all together — out of the floodplain; in other words, move them out of the downtown core. Several studies have been done in the past: two Army Corps of Engineers studies in the 1960s and another study in 2005. Many proposals have been put forth to minimize potential flood damage. We are concerned about the effect of moving city hall, the police station and the library will have on our historic downtown.
If these elements are removed from the floodplain, what should we do with all the remaining businesses, residences and two schools? Should they move? What will happen to their property values if they stay? The Design Assistance Team of Design Stanwood and follow-up sessions recommended keeping core elements — police, city hall and the library — in the downtown core. If we rip the heart out of our downtown, it will die. Another consideration is what happens to the present city hall and police station? We will just have more empty buildings. Where will future development occur as we spread east on Highway 532? There is science involved in moving, but there is also fear.
The proposal to move out of downtown is based on fear of flooding. But as we have seen, there are dangers to locating on hillsides — Oso in 2014 and the closure of Pioneer Highway north of town in 2012. Should we give up and move because of fear, or should we put our minds and our resources toward minimizing flood damage as Mount Vernon recently did? Keeping our core services downtown will help Stanwood grow and prosper. Once the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center was remodeled and improved, we saw other buildings in the neighborhood spruced up.
At the very least, there should be public meetings involving all the stakeholders: people with homes and businesses in the downtown core. The Stanwood Area Historical Society would be happy to host such a meeting at “The Floyd.” If the public wants to preserve its history, then we should find a way to do that; otherwise, the long-term consequences for Stanwood could be dire.
Gail Ryer, president
Board of Trustees, Stanwood Area Historical Society
Stanwood
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