Edmonds City Councilmembers Mike Nelson and Diane Buckshnis put on their own town hall meeting at Salish Crossing Wednesday night, where citizens had a chance to express their opinions on a wide range of issues, from crime and traffic enforcement to crumb rubber to affordable housing — and generally sharing ideas on how the city and the city council can better serve citizens.

The meeting began as two separate gatherings, with Buckshnis leading a discussion with high school and college students in the atrium area next to the new Cascadia Art Museum. There, members of the Students Saving Salmon group made a presentation on their efforts to monitor the conditions of three Edmonds streams and the Edmonds Marsh. (More on that effort in our earlier story here.)

After that presentation concluded, Buckshnis and other adults later joined Nelson’s group, which had gathered next door at Brigid’s Bottle Shop, a 21-and-older venue.

Edmonds City Council candidate Dave Teitzel made the first comment of the meeting, noting that city’s permitting process was a high priority on the city’s 88-item Strategic Action Plan, yet it was difficult to find information about permits on the city’s website.

“What are your thoughts about the permit process?” he asked Nelson.The councilmember responded that he has heard complaints regarding the speed of permitting and the “lack of consistency” in what they are told about the process. Citizens are also unhappy that the office is closed one day a week, Nelson said, a move that was made to catch up on work that can’t be done when they are serving customers.

Returning to the Strategic Plan, which was approved by the council in 2013 after considerable citizen input, Teitzel suggested that it would be helpful to create an online dashboard tool “to see exactly where we stand on high- priority items.”

Doug Swartz then asked what steps the city council could take “to make people feel less alienated.” One suggestion brought up during the discussion that followed was to change the public comment period during council meetings so that it’s more tied to issue being discussed. The comment period is now at the beginning of the meeting, even if the issue being commented on doesn’t appear on the agenda until two hours later. Council President Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, who was also in attendance, noted that the comment period used to be at the end of the meeting and those at the meeting agreed that having comments at the start was a better option.

Laura Johnson, who has commenting regularly before the council in recent months regarding the installation of crumb rubber turf at the former Woodway High School, suggested that it might be helpful to offer comment periods twice — at both the beginning and the end of every meeting. “It would encourage some citizens to stick around longer,” she noted.

Several attendees then expressed their opinions on crumb rubber, with all reiterating their concerns about public health and environmental effects of the material made from ground-up tires.

“It’s definitely something that’s on my mind,” Nelson said, noting that the council will take up the issue at its Nov. 10 meeting. The challenge is that the crumb rubber is located on school district property rather than city property, and the council has to carefully consider “what action can we take legally,” he added.  As for a possible ban on the material in the City of Edmonds, “I’m not aware of an actual city in the United States that has actually banned crumb rubber,” Nelson said. “That’s a precedent we have to consider.”

Among the other issues discussed Wednesday night:

The increase in traffic in the Lake Balllinger neighborhood. Fraley-Monillas — who lives in that area of Edmonds — noted she recently went back to work after being retired for five years, and it now takes her about 25 minutes to drive to Shoreline from the Snohomish-King County line at 205th and 76th Street Southwest.

The best place to locate affordable housing in Edmonds. Those in attendance agreed that Highway 99 is the best place for such housing, due to area’s access to public transit and other services. But Bruce Witenberg noted that it’s also important “to be sensitive to single-family residences located near the highway. Those residences are some of the most affordable housing we have in Edmonds,” Witenberg said, adding it’s critical to ensure that parking regulations created for multi-family housing are aimed at protecting single-family homes.

Future development at Five Corners, including opinions on the newly completed roundabout. “I was opposed to the roundabout originally but I have to admit I like it,” Swartz said. Teitzel agreed, but said he questions the amount of money the city spent on the roundabout. He also added that he was uneasy with the concept that it was OK to spend the money because it was federal grant money, as it’s “still our money.” Kathleen Rapp said she also was concerned about the overall reliance of federal dollars for city projects, adding “the well’s going to dry up eventually.”

Witenberg noted that Five Corners “is a prime area for redevelopment,” especially with its proximity to the high school and the nearby hospital district.

Nelson then asked attendees if they were concerned about public safety, and several issues were brought up.

Laura Johnson mentioned the need for safer pedestrian crossings in areas of the city where walking paths have been developed. Fraley-Monillas cited the increase in crime in eastern Edmonds, with homeless encampments increasing behind Burlington Coat Factory and in vacant lots along Highway 99. Future development on Highway 99 may help the problem as there will be more “eyes on the ground” to watch for problems, she said. The lack of sidewalks overall in east Edmonds is a safety issue, she noted.

Witenberg said it’s important for the council to approve a budget request by Edmonds police to hire more officers so the city’s street crimes unit can be reinstated. “I don’t think we can rely on redevelopment to cure the problem because it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said. “We need to reorder our priorities for public safety and provide the money for more peacekeepers.”

Teitzel called speeding “a real problem,” and several of those in attendance agreed that Edmonds should develop a reputation as a city that doesn’t tolerate speeders.

“I think we really do need to slow down,” Buckshnis said.

Nelson noted that his wife was walking the dog and spotted two cars drag racing on 8th Avenue — at 7 a.m.

“I think enough is enough,” he said. “We need to do a much better job of enforcing our speed limits,” he said.

My Edmonds News videotaped the town hall meeting and will post that video as soon as it is available.