After more than a year of study by staff and members of the Edmonds Planning Board, the Edmonds City Council Tuesday night approved a city code amendment regarding critical aquifer recharge areas (CARAs). The council also heard a range of opinions during a public hearing on the city’s options for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) and asked many questions about a proposal for affordable housing on the Landmark 99 property.

CARAs are established to protect groundwater and public drinking supplies from potential contamination and to ensure adequate groundwater availability. While the council voted 6-1 April 16 to place the code amendment on the April 23 consent agenda for approval, it was pulled from consent April 23 and then tabled until environmental issues could be reviewed. Councilmember Michelle Dostsch cited concerns expressed by the Olympic View Water and Sewer District (OVWSD) about city’s proposal to allow shallow underground injection control (UIC) wells to control stormwater runoff.

CARAs are treated as critical areas under the state’s Growth Management Act. When city code was last updated in 2016, it stated that no areas meeting criteria for CARAs existed in the city. However, in 2022, Edmonds was alerted to two CARAs in the city’s jurisdiction when the OVWSD appealed the city’s SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) Determination of Nonsignificance for a stormwater code update. OVWSD withdrew its appeal of the stormater code when presented with additional information provided by city staff, and staff committed to updating city code to reflect the presence of possible CARAs within city boundaries. The two drinking water wells are Deer Creek Springs near the Town of Woodway and at 228th Street Southwest — both supplement the drinking water that Olympic View purchases from the City of Seattle.

Council President Vivian Olson Tuesday night voted to untable the CARA code amendment so it could be further discussed and voted on. Tuesday’s 6-1 vote  — Dotsch opposed —  came despite a resolution passed by the OVWSD Board of Commissioners Monday night asking local jurisdictions to adopt ordinances that protect CARAS from contamination by prohibiting any new stormwater facilities, including UIC wells.

City staff reiterated their belief Tuesday night that the CARA code amendment represents the best available science at this point, and that the shallow UIC wells will do a better job of managing stormwater runoff — and protecting the CARAs — than taking no action at all. Staff also stressed that the stormwater portion of the revised code would be automatically updated as the Department of Ecology gets new information about different contaminants and ways to address them.

During a public hearing on city’s fire and EMS options, the council heard from residents who both supported and opposed the idea of joining the South County Fire Regional Fire Authority (RFA) — one of three options the council is considering. South County Fire in 2017 reorganized into what is now the South Snohomish County Fire and Rescue Regional Authority. As a fire authority, the agency can be funded directly through property taxes rather than receive payment from the individual jurisdictions that contract for fire and EMS services. In essence, this means that property owners would fund the RFA directly, rather than pay taxes to the city to fund emergency and fire services. To move from an individual contract to being part of the RFA, voters in each jurisdiction need to approve this change. So far, the cities of Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Brier and Mountlake Terrace have voted to join the RFA.

Edmonds had its own fire service until 2009, when financial pressures related to operating the fire department convinced the Edmonds City Council to enter into a 10-year contract with South County Fire. The city retained ownership of its three fire stations, however.

In December. South County Fire sent a two-year termination notice to the City of Edmonds, noting that Edmonds still is “paying less for service under the current contract than the rest of the RFA.” The council hired consulting firm Fitch and Associates to analyze the costs of various options for fire and EMS, including South County Fire. Edmonds currently pays South County Fire $12 million annually, and fire and emergency medical services costs are a concern due to recent city budget challenges.

The council is now considering three options proposed by Fitch: joining the RFA, contracting with the Shoreline Fire Department for services or restarting Edmonds’ own fire department.

During the public hearing, resident and former City Councilmember Ron Wambolt spoke in favor of the city bringing back its own fire department, while a few other speakers urged the council to be diligent in exploring the financial ramifications of all the options before them. 

Resident Jim Ogonowski asked what would happen to the city’s existing fire stations. “Are they going to be sold? Are they going to be given (back)?” Ogonowski also wondered “what happens to the revenue we are currently giving as taxpayers in the general fund and is that going to redistributed to us as taxpayers once we join (the RFA), as that’s going to be an additional line item in our property taxes?”

Councilmember Neil Tibbott, who chairs the council’s public safety and personnel committee, said that his committee would be discussing the fire service questions raised during public testimony at the committee’s next meeting at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14.

In other business Tuesday, councilmembers heard more details regarding a proposal the city received for developing the 10-acre Landmark 99 property located at the southern edge of Edmonds’ Highway 99 neighborhood. Tuesday’s update came five months after the city council voted 4-3 to continue exploring whether Edmonds should acquire the $37 million property — home to the Burlington Coat Factory and Antique Mall businesses

The two staff members working on the Landmark project — Community Services and Economic Development Director Todd Tatum and Planning and Development Director Susan McLaughlin — shared that a request for proposal for the site was issued in January. It closed on March 22, and staff received two bids that were evaluated by a six-person committee that included McLaughlin and Tatum, City Councilmembers Olson and Will Chen, and a member of the Edmonds Planning Board and the Economic Development Commission.

The proposal preferred by the committee was from primary developer J2 Housing, a Seattle-based company that focuses on building affordable housing. It includes between 826 and 1,000 units of “workforce housing,” with 648 units (80%) catering to those at 30% to 80% of area median income. The submitted proposal includes a mix of retail, apartments and townhomes.

As proposed, the project consists of four multifamily buildings. Three of those buildings would be apartments while the fourth would be “entry to ownership” townhomes. The development also includes public open space located adjacent to the townhomes, plus 60,000 square feet of retail space at the ground level. A total of 76% of the proposal would be for private use while 24% would be for public use. Examples of that public use could be an aquatics center or a community center.

Building construction would be phased over 36 months, McLaughlin said. “This is all up for negotiation,” Laughlin said of the site plan.

The J2 Housing roposal was attractive to the selection committee for several reasons, McLaughlin said. “We appreciated that this team was committed not only to building affordable housing but also to building community,” she said. “They are looking at the long-term horizon, and they are able to do that based on different housing models that are coming from the affordable housing sector.”

Another plus for the committee: J2 Housing’s policy of including child care facilities in each of its projects.

One of the things J2 was drawn to in the Landmark project “is the civic piece,” McLaughlin said. “They see that as a real additive for providing a heart to the community and an amenity that their residents will appreciate.”

Finally, “it was really evident that this team was committed to a partnership,” she said. “They saw that their objectives were our objectives, they saw mutual benefits in each of our goals and again that was quite evident during the interview process.”

The next step, Tatum told the council, would be for staff to engage in negotiations with J2 Housing, which would lead to a Memorandum of Agreement on Due Diligence. Staff plans to bring a request to the council in June to authorize such negotiations. This would include fleshing out the details of the partnership, the due diligence on the property and the ownership and financing model. Separately from that, the city would need to finalize its plans for its portion of the property. “Is a community center feasible?” Tatum said. “Can we do a community center in conjunction with additional housing — does that lower our costs? Does that lower the cash flow scenario over a period of 10, 20 years? Do we have municipal partners for an aquatics center and what are the timings for that?”

Staff hopes to bring that due diligence memorandum back to the council by July, showing the milestones, cost components and other elements. After that, staff would provide a progress report in November 2024 and from December 2024 to February 2025, there would be “hearings and decisions related to property ownership, financing and phasing.”

The next steps would be an option to purchase, which would require the city and its partners  to put $1 million in earnest money down on the property by March 31, 2025, and close on the property no later than Sept. 30, 2025.

Councilmember Neil Tibbott asked if the J2 Housing preferred proposal reflected desires the community expressed for the property during the city’s outreach process last fall, and McLaughlin said it did reflect that master planning process.

Councilmember Jenna Nand asked about the estimated height of the multifamily buildings and McLaughlin replied they appeared to be five to seven stories. Nand also wondered whether trees now located on the property would have to be eliminated. “We’re not at that level of design at this stage,” McLaughlin said, although she added that “inevitably, with the scale of development we are going to see tree removal.” McLaughlin then noted that given the large amount of surface parking now taking up much of the Landmark site, the tree canopy is likely to increase even with development.

Nand also questioned the idea of placing an aquatics center on the site, noting that the Dale Turner YMCA has a pool in Shoreline, within walking distance of the Landmark property. McLaughlin replied that an aquatics facility ranked high in the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space plan. She noted that both the cities of Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline have expressed interest in partnering with the city on such a facility.

Nand countered that the greater need in the Highway 99 area is for a community gathering place with green space, place rather than a pool. In looking at the preferred proposal, she said she was uncertain of the value to the city in continuing its involvement, suggesting that perhaps it should revert to being a private transaction.

Tatum said a key reason for the city to stay involved in the project is that the addition of community space “increases the vibrancy of the area” and also complements the retail planned for the site.

Councilmember Susam Paine asked whether the proposed percentage of public to private space was fixed, and McLaughlin replied that everything is open to negotiation.

Councilmember Chen said that as a member of the selection committee, he was impressed by J2 Housing’s ability to aquire financing for its projects and also the company’s commitment to the community where its projects are located. Chen also asked McLaughlin and Tatum to confirm that no city general fund money would be used for the planning phase of the project. Tatum replied that the city had identified two pots of money to fund 2024 Landmark expenses — a $100,000 grant from Snohomish County and $300,000 available from the county’s affordable and supportive housing sales and use tax. “I don’t anticipate coming to ask for more,” Tatum said.

Councilmember Chris Eck said that from an economic development standpoint, “once this gets going, there will be a domino effect and I think we’ve seen that in other communities. Once you start that vitality project, I believe more developers, more companies want to come in and be a part of that change that they see.”

Councilmember Dotsch said she’s concerned about possibility of cost overruns, adding that making the housing affordable for such a range of income levels “seems very challenging without a really heavy lift of money.” She also wondered how vehicle access would be improved into and out of the site. McLaughlin replied that site access will be looked at more closely in the next phase of the project, but also said that the one of the location’s attractions it is accessibility to multimodal transportation, including Community Transit’s Swift line, the Interurban Trail and the new Mountlake Terrace light rail station.

Council President Olson, who was also on the selection committee, said that she was positively impressed by the J2 Housing team, adding it was clear “they were not building housing, they were building community.” She said the company is able to take advantage of long-range financing tools from the federal government at very low interest rates, which helps them control their costs.

Given the city’s budget difficulties, Olson said she is hopeful the city can bring in another nonprofit like the Boys and Girls Club or even a private partner to take over the open space currently designated for the city. Adding that she has been a “no” on previous council votes regarding the Landmark property, “I could be a yes if we could do it privately but in the same spirit of the amenities we were trying to get to,” Olson said.

Also on Tuesday night, the council:

– Heard Mayor Mike Rosen read a proclamation in honor of Police Week, honoring the service and sacrifice of those law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while protecting our communities.

– Approved the extension of month-to-month tenancy for two wireless carriers — TMobile and Verizon — while leases are being negotiated for monopoles located at the city’s Five Corners water reservoir.

— By Teresa Wippel