The Edmonds Economic Development Commission is scheduled to have a special meeting from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, which will include an in-person walking tour of the Highway 99/Lake Ballinger area, ending at the site of the proposed City of Edmonds Landmark 99 project.
The public is invited to join at any of the meeting locations/stops listed below.
The group will meet at 6 p.m. in the parking lot of 23607 Highway 99. Participants will begin walking to the next stop at 6:25 p.m., with the following schedule:
- Stop 1 (6:35 p.m.) – McAleer Boat Launch
Address: 23731 74th Ave. W., Edmonds
Begin walking to next stop at 6:55 p.m. - Stop 2 (7 p.m.) – Mathay Ballinger Park Entrance
Address: 24100 78th Pl. W., Edmonds
Being walking to next stop at 7:20 p.m. - Stop 3 (7:30 p.m.) – Landmark site address: 24001 Highway 99, Edmond
There will be discussion, questions and observations, following by adjournment at 8 p.m.
The city is in the process of gathering public input to help determine how to approach potential development on the 10-plus-acre property located at the southern corridor of Highway 99. (This is the current location of Burlington Coat Factory, the Aurora Antique Pavilion and the closed Mick Finster’s).
During its June 27 meeting, the Edmonds City Council voted 3-1 with two abstentions and one absence to authorize Mayor Mike Nelson to sign an option agreement for the possible future purchase of the site.
There are lots of good reasons why developers develop and Cities limit their role to writing and enforcing codes and collecting the taxes from those developments. The way the City has kick started this process on Hwy 99 is the opposite…The City wants to be a developer but won’t tell us what they will build, why they picked such an expensive property or how much they ultimately plan to spend (with our taxes).
I really don’t respect the way the City started this whole process and hope the City representatives on this tour can reassure us that they are reeling in the wannabee developers at City Hall and bringing them back to fiscal reality. Everything publicized about this is too vague. If there is some secret plan for grant funding it would be prudent for the City representatives to publicize it.
I’d also suggest Parks send somebody who can clarify the timeline and scope of work for improvements to the McAleer waterfront access.