
During a four-hour Monday work session, newly appointed Lynnwood City Councilmember Almaderica “Derica” Escamilla was sworn in to her position and joined other members of the council on the dais. The council selected Escamilla last week from a pool of over 20 candidates to fill the Position 1 seat left vacant when Shirley Sutton resigned in May.
Much of the Monday meeting was spent discussing plans for the Lynnwood Link light rail project. The highly-anticipated Lynnwood light rail extension is set to open Aug. 30. Representatives from Sound Transit (ST) updated the council about light rail’s progress and how other transit operations will connect to it, and discussed future plans to expand transit access in the area. ST speakers were followed by the Lynnwood police, who discussed research about crime related to the project and plans for addressing the influx of people the station is expected to bring to Lynnwoods. Finally, the council heard from South County Fire about its preparations for light rail – most of which the fire agency has already been implemented.

ST provided an overview of the Lynnwood Link’s growth from its progress as a 2008 voter-approved project to its current status as a fully built light rail system being tested for safety and operator training purposes.
Regarding the agency’s role in maintaining safety, ST told the council that it now contracts with four different security vendors and has a total of 480 security personnel – more than double its 2022 roster. It also receives support from 65 King County Sheriff’s Department officers. Increased staffing allows the agency to retain a team of public safety and security field activity specialists who are on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, response time to incidents has decreased from 10 to five minutes.
Providing a broader overview of the transit system, representatives spoke about ST’s focus on providing more frequent buses, more weekend/night stops and increasing connectivity to Community Transit bus rapid transit lines, like the Swift Blue and Orange lines.

Looking to the future, speakers said they were excited to share plans about transit-oriented development– that is, housing developments that Sound Transit is supporting by providing its surplus property to nonprofit developers. ST solicited bids from several developers, offering a land discount for those seeking to build dense, affordable housing. Nonprofit developer Housing Hope brought forth a robust service proposal, which offered a child care center, health care clinics, a job training program and ample recreation space in addition to its 167 apartment units. The apartments would be offered to individuals making 30-60% of Snohomish County’s annual median income. Estimates are that construction on this project would begin in early 2027 and conclude at the end of 2028.
Councilmember Patrick Decker and Council President George Hurst asked about fare enforcement, which some have expressed concerns about. Sound Transit representatives explained that their fare ambassador programs and station design were undergoing changes that would increase enforcement. The idea of turnstiles was determined to not be viable in highly trafficked areas, they said.

Commanders Curtis Zatylny and Brian Jorgensen spoke to the council on behalf of the Lynnwood Police Department. Zatylny said he was excited for the line’s opening, recalling his own use of public transit as a kid and commenting on the opportunities that light rail would bring to area residents.
For their analysis, police compiled data about crime trends in the area of Lynnwood’s City Center station and compared it with crime at Link light rail’s southernmost station – Angle Lake. They also presented some strategies and training initiatives that the department is working on.

Zatylny said that based on crime reports from the city and Snohomish County, crime within a one-mile radius of the City Center Station has been trending upward since 2021 and that trend is expected to continue. Lynnwood police have been responding to more incidents than the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office because the transit center is on the southernmost border of the county’s jurisdiction. Best practice encourages them to address and deescalate situations in the area instead of prioritizing which agency should handle something based on jurisdictional concerns.
With the arrival of light rail, police will likely be handling some issues they are unfamiliar with, such as unlawful transit behavior, so they will train for those situations and learn to address them, he said.
Jorgensen provided an overview of the operational safety plan for the line’s opening at the end of August. Major points included developing relationships and direct lines of communication with ST’s security contractors, carefully tracking occurrences in the station and nearby areas, and possibly establishing a new patrol area. Decisions pertaining to staffing and other policing strategies will be developed using collected data during three-,six-, 12- and 18-month reviews.
Councilmember David Parshall asked if developing new patrols and handling city center crime would require additional staffing. Zatylny answered that police were handling things well currently and believed it would be possible for the department to absorb the impact. Further, the regular reviews of crime and report volume would inform their staffing decisions, he said.

Parshall followed up with a question about drug use.
“Are rumors of fentanyl use on transit cars overblown? Is that something you see with frequency?” he asked. Lynnwood Link Project Director Randy Harlow responded that the light rail system was seeing an uptick in drug-related events, though he did not believe it to be a daily occurrence. Harlow added that this rise in drug use was not unique to transit.
Escamilla asked if police had data on the Northgate Station, as it had been at the north end of the line for some time. Presenters answered that the station’s authorities, the Seattle Police Department, had not collected that data. Escamilla asked about Link light rail’s impact on traffic, referencing the backups that occurred when Lynnwood’s newest Chick-Fil-A opened. Zatylny said that a large number of passengers would be using the transit system, rather than driving, and that could ease traffic. However,the exact impact would have to be evaluated when light rail opened and traffic patterns could be surveyed. Harlow drew attention to nearby construction on the nearby streets of 200th Street Southwest and 44th, 46th and 48th Avenues West. He said that those projects were all designed for the explicit purpose of alleviating traffic and increasing transit circulation.

South County Fire Chief Bob Eastman was accompanied by several fire officials to discuss their preparations for light rail opening. In anticipation, medical and fire responders had been training well in advance for transit-specific scenarios. Additionally, reconciling the county’s map with the Sound Transit map allowed them to collect a range of data on access points and other key data. One final drill is scheduled before the opening – a large-scale interdepartmental exercise simulating a train derailment is to be held the morning of July 27.

In other business, the council heard back from staff about suggested uses for the .49-acre Precision Tune property located at 19610 44th Ave. W. The City of Lynnwood purchased the land in 2020 for $1.425 million because the property was a necessary staging area for the 196th Street Improvement Project. After the business closed, and as part of the sales agreement, Precision Tune paid Lynnwood $450,000 due to extensive soil contamination at the site. A full cleanup was estimated to cost $673,000. After the $450,000 figure had been reached by the construction crew, the city decided to halt cleanup because it was now safe for construction work – the acquisition’s initial purpose.
Construction on 196th Street ended in 2023, and staff have asked council for direction on how to proceed with handling the property. Ideas were shared – including a suggestion that the area be made into a small park.
Parks Deputy Director Sarah Olson and staff from other departments (police, public works) informed planners that they had no current or future need for the property.
Regarding the park idea, staff recommended against it for several reasons. The property is ill-suited due to the location, since it is adjacent to high-speed traffic, which would make the area loud and less safe. Programming at the location would also be limited due to the size. Further, proceeds from the sale and associated fees would be better used for development of parks that will be filling the city’s “green space requirement” for area residents, such as the Northline Village and Town Square Parks.
While official estimates have not been sought, the area’s existing contamination and other zoning limitations could make the property challenging to sell. Council Vice President Julieta Altamirano-Crosby asked if zoning could be changed for the property so that more developers could consider its purchase. Economic Development Manager Ben Wolters said that this option could be explored, but that creating an instance of spot zoning would contradict planning direction for the City Center project.

In other business, Lynnwood Municipal Court Judge Valerie Bouffiou represented the court in requesting a full-time employee to handle a rising number of photo enforcement traffic camera infractions. Bouffiou said that filing data from 2020-2023 reflects an average of 3,100 case filings per month, and that amount has risen to a monthly average of 5,200 cases in 2024. Staff do not believe the rise in cases is temporary and have requested one Legal specialist II due to the workload required to process and issue the tickets. Excluding benefits, the worker would be paid $28.77-36.40 per hour – an annual salary of about $60,000-76,000.
Bouffiou explained that because the tickets were generated by computers, many incorrectly believe that the process of issuing and collecting payments on them was not labor intensive. She said that the current situation was the first time in its history that the court had a backlog of work to complete, adding that court employees were being offered overtime. Due to the extended hours and task of dealing with displeased individuals, the work has become burdensome to court employees.
Bouffiou said she intends to return later in the year with more staffing requests, but added that this need was urgent. Because it was a work session, no action was taken on this item but it will come back before the council at a later date.

Other agenda items at the meeting included:
– A discussion pertaining to a proposed interlocal agreement between the City of Lynnwood and South County Fire. As of 2017, South County Fire has provided fire prevention and investigation services to the City of Lynnwood. As the fire authority grows, it is seeking to align all services provided to client cities. To that end, it wants to take on the responsibility of handling certain inspections and maintenance. Director David Kleitsch informed the council that there will be no fiscal impact to the city.
– A update from Wally Webster II about the ACCESS Project, which was allocated $75,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. Webster detailed the efforts made by the Access Project to connect with over 60 teens in the Edmonds School District who were considered at risk for mental health or youth violence concerns. One portion of the program focuses on peer mediation – that is, bringing teens together to talk through their emotions and struggles, such as depression, abuse and loneliness. The other portion of the program focuses on how the program works to determine who is at risk. Webster said that they were considering expanding the program to middle schools and increasing opportunities for community engagement. He also said that the organization will likely seek an additional $50,000 in ARPA funds, putting it in direct competition with the police and finance departments as they both have requested portions of the city’s remaining $137,000.
– In his duties as council president, Hurst is responsible for assigning liaison positions to Lynnwood’s various boards and commissions. Reflecting that the council has filled its vacancy, he appointed two liaison positions that were left by Sutton after her resignation. Hurst appointed Councilmember Josh Binda to serve as the arts commission’s council liaison and Councilmember Derica Escamilla to the human services commission.
–By Jasmine Contreras-Lewis
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