The Lynnwood City Council heard about ongoing road maintenance and funding needs from the city’s Public Works Department at a business meeting July 8. It also voted to approve an update to the Lynnwood Board of Ethics’ complaint-handling process and delayed a conversation on the use of Lynnwood’s remaining American Rescue Act Plan funds.

Project Manager Amie Hanson and City Engineer David Mach began their presentation by explaining the grading system that city workers use to categorize streets in disrepair. Grade A streets have very minor cracking and smooth, uncompromised paving while Grade F streets show extensive rutting and contain potholes and other major failures. Most streets fall somewhere within the range and Hanson described Lynnwood’s streets (evaluated in 2022) on the whole as Grade C-. That means that the average street is likely to have some cracking, “alligatoring” or pavement separation.

At current funding levels, engineers predict that Lynnwood’s streets will average a “D-” within the next five years. To maintain the current grade of street, public works employees suggested that the city budget $6 million toward pavement upkeep and repair. The current budget allotts $3 million for this purpose.

Mach acknowledged the price of maintaining public roads.

“It’s a lot of money and that’s every year. $6 million per year, every year. So, how can we come up with a dedicated funding source to keep our streets at the same level they currently are? Which, we feel, is adequate. We feel our streets are in good shape and we want to keep them there. When I retire from the city some day, I want to make sure I leave the city in as-good or better condition as when I started,” Mach said.

This is not the first time public works employees have brought their budgetary concerns to the council. Most recently, department heads briefed councilmembers in June about several major projects and a broad overview of how it intends to implement multimodal transport. At the time, staff spoke about the department’s historical lack of full-time staff and the costs of regular maintenance versus the costs of delayed maintenance.

They stated that they plan to bring forth a 2025-2026 transportation budget proposal during meetings later in the year. For now, staff intend to recommend the following to increase funding:

• Increasing the vehicle tab fee.
• Increasing Transportation Benefit District sales tax (which could be authorized as a ballot proposition).
• Increasing traffic impact fees.
• Reestablishing Lynnwood’s Economic Development Investment Fund.
• Evaluating tax increment financing.

Councilmember Patrick Decker said that residential streets in particular were in poor condition due to poor patching. He asked if there was a way to hold the companies performing insufficient work accountable so they would be required to come back and fix any areas that suffered as a result.

Mach explained that the department has implemented measures that result in better patching. For example, when a utility line has to be accessed through the road, it must be patched in a way that covers nearby areas as well, due to the higher success rate of larger patches. Additionally, the department sends private inspectors to make sure road repairs meet Lynnwood’s standards of quality.

However, these checks apply to new construction only, not works that have degraded over a long period of time. Tracking down and holding a firm that was contracted a decade ago would be difficult or impossible if the firm is no longer in business, he said.

Engineers endeavor to repave roads in 20- to 30-year cycles. Mach explained that the city attempts to discourage companies and developers from damaging newer roads. Heavier fines are assessed based on the recency of a roadway.

Decker followed up by asking if there was any new technology that was making road maintenance and repair more affordable, adding that other cities were fighting the same battle against high costs.

“Is there something in the industry that’s helping us out here in terms of cost?” Decker said. “Revolution in technology for paving? What’s coming up? What can we look forward to? How are we going to solve this? Because taxing the residents is not a solution that’s going to fly.”

Mach replied that he hears this question frequently. “If I invent something, I could retire because everybody will want this new technology. Unfortunately, there really just isn’t any sort of silver bullet-type technology that’s coming down.” Mach added that he and other staff members keep a lookout for industrial innovations.

“But the things we can do are the things Amie shared in the presentation. We can do a good job of managing our systems so that we can do that $1-per-square-foot repair early and don’t let things degrade until [they require] full reconstruction,” he said.

Council President Hurst asked where the staff was going with the vehicle tab fee, as state law dictates that city councils can raise the fee up to $50. Mach confirmed that raising Lynnwood’s current $40 fee to $50 could generate “a few hundred thousand dollars.” Hurst asked if staff was considering bringing the item before voters as a ballot measure. Mach said it was under consideration and more concrete funding discussions would be brought forth in future conversations.

Councilmember David Parshall asked if staff had any ideas for more preventative measures that the city could take to avoid severely degrading roads and thus, the costs of reconstruction. Mach said that a more robust prevention effort would involve contracting a third party for some repairs because current staff struggled with covering the entire area of Lynnwood. Further, strategic prioritization of certain areas would reduce the overall cost.

After a brief recess, councilmembers learned about progress on 44th Avenue West’s I-5 underpass. The underpass is scheduled to undergo pedestrian and bicycle improvements including safer routing and signage “reflecting a main entrance to the City of Lynnwood.”Presenters displayed some preliminary concept art, though the design portion of the project is still underway. So far, the project has received $5 million in federal and state grants. Construction is expected to begin in summer/fall 2025.

In other business, the council voted 5-1 to approve an update to the ethics board complaint policy. Decker was the only councilmember to vote against the changes. Under the new policy, ethics board members will be the first to review and process ethics complaints. Previously, the board was uninvolved in ethics complaints unless an appeal was filed and instead, the board’s attorney determined the validity of ethics complaints.

Councilmembers and Mayor Christine Frizzell spoke about the July 3 shooting at Alderwood Mall. During an altercation with other teenagers, a 16-year old boy pulled out a gun and shot 13-year old Jayda Woods-Johnson, who happened to be walking nearby. The girl died at the hospital later that night.

Most councilmembers spent their comments expressing condolences. Some voiced their opinions on what they felt they should or could do about gun and youth violence within the city.

Councilmember Josh Binda said that youth advocacy was a large part of his platform and that the community was at a critical point.

“We say we want change. We say we want our youth to have a voice. We say we want to make a difference. But are we really platforming them? Are we really giving them a chance? Are we really putting them at the forefront of the issues that matter to them the most?” Binda added that he’d reached out to Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon to set up a meeting to brainstorm and discuss options such as community partnerships.

Decker said that he believed that disenfranchised youth gradually lose their empathy and stop being able to understand how their actions would affect others.

“I’m a firm believer that as we restore hope to the members of our community – particularly the younger members of our community – give them something to look forward to, give them something to work for, they will turn that hope into effort and they will change themselves and they will change our community for the better,” Decker said.

Parshall thanked mall employees and all who helped who worked to protect kids that became trapped during the lockdown response to the shooting.

Hurst spoke about the challenge of attending the vigil, recalling that he and others in attendance told the grieving parents that they knew they had a responsibility to try to make sure that another tragedy like this did not occur.

“I don’t think that we can ever take the pain away, the hole that is now in their hearts for the loss of a daughter. But, do we do something to improve our community because of this? I think so,” Hurst said.

Accordingly, Hurst motioned to postpone discussion on Lynnwood’s remaining American Rescue Act Plan funds as councilmembers attempt to reconcile the requests amidst concerns about gun violence and youth gang activity. The motion received no objections.

Two people spoke during a public hearing about a proposed amendment to Lynnwood’s policy on recreational activities in commercial zones. Edits were prompted by an April 2024 request from a party interested in converting Lynnwood’s former Bed, Bath and Beyond building into indoor pickleball courts. Proposed changes include defining what a “health club” is, allowing outdoor ancillary playgrounds within the Neighborhood Commercial and Planned Commercial Development zones and moving around language.

A pickleball franchise owner and a pickleball fan voiced support, saying that it was the fastest growing in the U.S.. After some further questions from councilmembers about the pickleball courts, Frizzell reminded attendees that the public hearing pertained to the amendments, not the pickleball franchise. The amendment will be voted on during another business meeting.

–By Jasmine Contreras-Lewis