Editor:
The Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (ACE) is currently involved in examining and evaluating the Edmonds Comprehensive Plan (CP). This detailed document, which has a required update of December 2024, will be used for planning the growth, development and sustainability of Edmonds for the next 20 years. The City of Edmonds has already been working on the process of evaluating and updating the CP with hired consultants. Its importance to the future of Edmonds cannot be overstated. It must be carefully crafted with substantial input from the citizens of Edmonds.
ACE is systematically examining the elements of this detailed, complex plan one element at a time. ACE’s Guiding Statement is “to gather information and input from ACE’s members that will inform written and oral comments to the Planning Board, City Council, media and the citizens of Edmonds about the current CP.”
The stated goals for growth in Edmonds include the maintenance of light, privacy, accessibility to views and natural resources and protection from visual, sound and noxious and other intrusions on the quality of life. It states that Edmonds is and should remain “The Gem of Puget Sound.”
ACE’s goal is to review the existing CP and advise citizens on new data needs as well as ideas worth keeping in order to encourage meaningful input from Edmonds’ residents.
Visit Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (aceedmonds.org) for additional information.
Dr. Michelle Dotsch
Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (ACE) President on behalf of the ACE Board
Thank you Dr. Michelle Dotsch for all that you do for the Citizens of Edmonds. I hope that you run for City Council when more seats are open. You have been a great asset for the Edmonds Community. Thank you!
Great and honest comments and suggestions all.
For the past several years, it has appeared that the City of Edmonds government has charged ahead with its own agenda much of which was either not supported by our citizens or our citizens comments and suggestions were ignored. Now is the time for as many of us as possible to stand up and voice our desires and needs for our great city. No more dictates that suit the political and personal views of City Government. It may sound corny, but Government is there to serve us the residents and the people whose taxes pay their salaries. If they cannot work for us, then we should work to replace them.
Thank you, Michelle and ACE. Most citizens have no idea what this City’s Comprehensive Plan actually says and how it is supposed to guide municipal actions and governmental decisions affecting zoning, housing, streets, water and sewer infrastructure, natural areas, new development, etc., etc.
If City Administration was serious about getting broad and USEFUL public input on UPDATING the Comp Plan, they would first ensure everyone knew exactly WHAT aspects of the Comp Plan had to be considered for update, WHY the updates are necessary, and WHAT are the alternatives and consequences of changes to the Comp Plan. This “visioning” process the City is undertaking leaves the impression that City staff think they are rewriting the Comp Plan, and that is just wrong. We have an existing Comp Plan, we have existing structure (the slate is not clean), we have limited infrastructure, and we have many citizens who want to maintain “It’s an Edmonds Kind of Day”.
Joe, Michelle, and ACE. First off, a big thank you for fighting the good fight to try to keep Edmonds a place for the citizens who actually live here now. I’m very tired of every mayor and staff since the coining of the nickname “Deadmonds” trying to sell our city out from under us and/or cater to the needs of the latest power business people, developers, and special interests. We don’t need to SELL Edmonds now and we probably never have. We are loving Edmonds to a slow death. If you make the streets downtown a walking mall and surround it with cheap five or more story, set back to set back, residential buildings you will totally destroy the ambiance of what we have going for us now. If this is really what the people want, then so be it, but let’s let everyone state their views without prejudice and let’s not pay some “community champions” to get the vision the mayor and staff want to tilt the game in their favor. This mayor and planning staff in particular need to be reined in by the people. A good Council is a start.
Thank you Michelle Dotsch for all you do to keep Edmonds citizens informed of our city government actions. My wish is that more residents become engaged in this comprehensive plan rewrite so the outcome is what the majority of us want as opposed to being upset and surprised when it is finalized. City staff and City Council need to ensure citizen voices are heard. Not just a select few that agree with the staff’s desired agenda.
Happy Birthday Clint! You often have some good things to say. It is my belief that Council gets it and will be working as a team to see that public knowledge and input are at the top of the list. We are just getting started on the CP and we just need to keep the information flowing. The issues that need to be address in the CP are extensive and the city needs to share the check list of the items needed for review so citizens can begin to work on the issues. What often happens with these complicated issues is that we are unwilling to sort out the alternatives and make the needed compromises to create new solutions. Point is lets all keep our eye on the ball and our ears open to ideas that may further enhance all of Edmonds. It starts with us and it looks like we have already started.
Darrol, thanks for the personal greeting. We had a great gourmet dinner at Buccatini’s in celebration of being older than dirt (expensive Edmonds dirt).
I agree our latest Council group “gets it” and the people are beginning to be more vocal about what they want and don’t want for Edmonds future. We need better mechanisms for public input, built into our system (Routine District based Town Halls). Contrary to how it may look and sound, I do not want to fight with anyone or put anyone down who may look at things differently than I do. For example, I might disagree with what I think a prominent business person’s vision for the town is, but that doesn’t prevent me from thinking that person is also one of the finest human beings to ever walk the Earth.
I think our current mayor and his planning staff mean well, but they are trying to usurp decisions and process’s that the people, thru their Council, should be addressing. Mayors and Staff should be about running the town efficiently; not visioning and aiding private business’s and special interests, they approve of, to achieve their goals.