Overnight parking in Mukilteo recently took another step toward becoming reality — some day.
A handful of agencies approved an agreement this month to help fund a parking feasibility study in Mukilteo that could help solve overnight and long-term parking issues. The final signatures came from the Island County commissioners, in addition to those from the Port of South Whidbey, Sound Transit and the City of Mukilteo.
The news was a delight to Port of South Whidbey Commissioner Curt Gordon. For years Gordon, who lives in Clinton and serves on the Clinton Community Council, has sought traction and funding to get an overnight parking lot or garage built in Mukilteo, where the ferry connects Whidbey to the mainland.
“As you’ve probably heard me say a hundred times, Washington State Ferries is not addressing overnight parking needs in Mukilteo,” he said during the port’s regular meeting.
The idea is that a parking garage would alleviate some of the ferry vehicle traffic, allow Whidbey Island residents to keep a car on the other side, and be an economic boon by luring travelers to Island County.
The agreement states that the City of Mukilteo will lead the project, handling much of the work for undertaking the study. The Port of South Whidbey is on the hook for 21 percent of the cost, up to $10,000. Island County is the smallest backer in terms of its financial stake, contributing $2,500. Sound Transit is responsible for the bulk of the cost, an estimated $35,000 that accounts for 74 percent of the total.
If a facility is built, it will likely be owned by the City of Mukilteo.
The Washington State Auditor’s office declined to comment on the legality of the port district spending money toward a project outside its jurisdiction, but Deputy Director for Communications Thomas Shapley cited a state law, RCW 53.08.450, that allows for that type of acquisition.
“So it would seem that the port has the authority, as long as the stated conditions are met,” Shapley wrote in an email.
“However, we are not opining on this,” he added. “We audit in retrospect. It could be something we would look at in our next regularly scheduled audit of the port.”
Mukilteo’s comprehensive plan includes a parking lot that can be developed into a parking garage as part of the document’s waterfront redevelopment section. Such a structure would boost the area’s walkability and serve high-traffic uses such as the Sounder train, ferry terminal, park and ride, several businesses and the popular Lighthouse Park, the plan states.
“There’s a huge need,” said Dave Hoogerwerf, a Clinton resident who serves as a representative on the Whidbey Island Ferry Advisory Committee.
“To make this a viable run, you have to decrease the number of vehicles on there at peak hours,” he added.
Mukilteo implemented parking meters and a four-hour limit at its lot near the lighthouse and around Old Town’s waterfront earlier this summer. That has limited people’s ability to park there, walk on the ferry and spend a day (and money) on Whidbey Island.
Economic development is the name of the game for the port district, and Gordon and the other commissioners were interested in finding ways of making the trip easier.
While the project is months from being studied and years, if ever, from being built, the port district and other Whidbey Island agencies are looking at ways of bringing people across.
Langley city leaders have researched paying for a shuttle to serve the city on weekends and make occasional trips to the Clinton ferry terminal.
The port is following that direction, researching ways to fund weekend service with Island Transit. But it won’t be free or even cheap. Since making service cuts and some layoffs because of disastrous financial accounting, Island County’s bus service canceled its island-long route on weekends. Gordon said the annual cost is estimated at about $200,000 for a Friday evening through Sunday afternoon bus.
“I have a lot of passion for more visitors, more economic trade with more passengers and less cars. I’m not an anti-car guy, I’m an anti-waiting-in-a-ferry-line guy,” Gordon said.
At a recent port meeting, Commissioner Jack Ng, owner of the China City restaurants, recommended that the port consider contracting the work with a private company.
That drew a stern warning from Commissioner Ed Halloran, who drew parallels to the labor arguments in major cities between taxi companies and contract driver services such as Uber.
“It’s one more step down and you get to Ubers,” Halloran said, adding that reliable, public transportation should be considered as infrastructure and not industry.
Another possible temporary solution for the parking problem may be in the unused and abandoned area currently slated for demolition in the coming years. Parts of the former oil tank farm are now owned by the Tulalip Tribes.
