After native plants damaged, council votes to temporarily halt Pine Street lighting project

The Edmonds City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to temporarily halt a lighting project near Point Edwards after city crews destroyed some native plants, including those where birds were building nests, on the edge of a volunteer-run demonstration garden along Pine Street.

The city council in November 2016 approved the $20,000 lighting project after hearing from Point Edwards residents who said they didn’t feel safe walking in the area of Pine Street and Highway 104 — located at the bottom of the Point Edwards development — after dark, due to lack of street lighting.

Late last week, however, Susie Schaefer, coordinator of the Edmonds Wildlife Habitat Native Plant Demonstration Garden (known by most as the Demo Garden), notified the council about the plant damage caused by workers.

Located just south of the Edmonds Marsh, next to the Willow Creek Fish Hatchery, the Demo Garden was created in 2009 as an outdoor learning tool featuring native vegetation and a variety of bird- and wildlife-friendly elements.

“The amount of damage to the plants is shocking to see,” Schaefer wrote in an email to councilmembers, “especially to ones where several volunteers and I had observed nest build activities by birds in that edge area at recent Demo Garden work parties.

“I hope many plants will grow back but some appear to have been permanently damaged by large equipment,” Schaefer added. “One small but important corner of the Demo Garden which is not directly on Pine Street has been almost wiped out.”

Also of great concern, Schaefer said, is the possible impacts the planned street lights will have on wildlife. “There is a body of scientific research and information showing negative effects on birds and wildlife by the intense urban lighting,” she explained.

The Demo Garden damage wasn’t initially on the council business meeting agenda — scheduled to be short because it was a night of committee meetings. But the item was added so that councilmembers could discuss next steps for the lighting.

Area of the planned lighting project.

Councilmember Mike Nelson then invited City Public Works Director Phil Williams to talk about the light installation and what happened to the Demo Garden plants.

Williams explained that the initial plan was to install the lights on the south side of Pine Street, across the street from the Demo Garden. But for a variety of logistical reasons, it was decided to instead place the lights on the north side, next to the garden.

The city had to dig a ditch for the electrical conduit, and that’s when the plant damage occurred. Williams admitted that there could have been better communication about the project and he apologized for that.

As for the concerns about how the lighting might affect wildlife, Williams pointed out that the project involves LED lights, which are directional so the light is more easily controlled. The lights are also shielded to leak as little light as possible, he added.

Several councilmembers said they recalled that the project was supposed to be for pedestrian lighting rather than street lighting, and Williams replied that the poles are 35 feet high with the goal of lighting both the street and the sidewalk, to improve roadway lighting for cars as well as pedestrians who are crossing the street.

Both Councilmembers Kristiana Johnson and Dave Teitzel noted that there is smaller-scale, pedestrian-oriented lighting at nearby Point Edwards that may be more appropriate for the Pine Street project.

Williams responded that with smaller lights, you need more of them as they are closer to the ground, and the city has a limited budget for the project. In addition, Williams said, Snohomish County PUD is supplying the lights and may not have access to the smaller light standards.

“It just seems like we’ve gone pretty far afield from the original description,” Johnson said, adding she’d like Williams to pursue other options. “The original purpose was to provide safe walking for those people who live at Point Edwards.”

“Instead of street lighting, I want to look at pedestrian lighting,” Johnson added.

Teitzel also asked Williams to investigate the cost difference for the smaller light standards.

Nelson then made a motion to temporarily halt the work so that investigation could be done, and the council voted 6-0 (Councilmember Tom Mesaros absent) to support it.

Prior to the vote, Councilmember Diane Buckshnis, herself a past Demo Garden volunteer, also pointed to the “thousands (of hours) of volunteer work that has just been diminished. For those of us who have done that, it’s just heartbreaking.”

Buckshnis and other councilmembers also said they hoped the city could find a way to mitigate the damage the project has caused so far.

“There’ve been some unintended consequences that have occurred,” added Nelson, “and now we are trying to figure out what we can do to best keep the pedestrian walkway lit without impacting the environment, at least to a minimum.”

Also during the council business meeting, Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling read a proclamation recognizing Friday, June 2, as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

— By Teresa Wippel

  1. That’s just sad. And I wouldn’t be so sure that the LED lighting is not going to impact wildlife. The wildlife may be there BECAUSE of the lack of lighting. Smaller would be better for sure.

  2. Thank you, Councilwoman Johnson, for pointing out that the current project is varying wildly from the original proposal. Keep up the good work!

  3. Why was there no ongoing supervision of a project which was so close to a sensitive area? Why did the contractors simply dive in, without questions of clarification? This seems to have been avoidable.

  4. If there is such great concern of lighting to this area, why does the fish hatchery have a high density light on all night. A street light should not have any greater impact then that light. I have lived in Edmonds for five plus years and have never heard anyone complain about this light and its impact on wildlife.

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