Op-Ed: Time to bridge rift between city and neighborhood

by Susan Will, Richmond Beach Community News editor

Communications between the City of Shoreline and the Richmond Beach neighborhood are broken. There is a vacuum – a black hole – where too much information disappears and critical, long-term knowledge seems to have been lost.

Who does this serve when it comes to Point Wells?

Let me be blunt. There are uncomfortable facts both sides need to swallow whole and without bitterness if we want a shot at something even a bit more palatable.

The good news? Neither side is satisfied with the status quo. So let’s say what needs to be said and lay it to rest so we can move forward with more purpose.

Being clear on basic premises would focus Richmond Beach residents on better impacting how the project unfolds. May not be fluffy tap-dancing kittens, but neither is it really news.

Development at Point Wells has been inevitable for some decades now. Inevitable because this is a rare piece of Puget Sound waterfront and there are property owner rights protected by law. No jurisdiction – no county, city or town – can unduly delay or limit development permitted by law.

This is not the City of Shoreline’s project. It has no official role and essentially has the same input devices afforded individuals under the environmental review process.

The only access is through Shoreline. The City of Shoreline has primary responsibility (now and in perpetuity) for maintaining public amenities in our neighborhood. As Shoreline taxpayers, it will cost us even more if Point Wells is not annexed by the City of Shoreline.

Public rights-of-way, regardless of how they appear, are owned by all of us as members of the public. Property owner encroachment into adjacent right of way by way of landscaping or building is at that property owner’s (and subsequent property owners’) risk.

The good and bad news for the City of Shoreline is that this is its problem to solve. If the city can’t get those circled wagons out of the way fast enough to consider the following, it has already failed. Again.

Start focusing on public education. It is insufficient to simply announce facts. You must explain in plain language what the community needs to know for it to effectively participate in the decision-making processes available to it.

Your neighborhoods deserve respect; they’ve supported the city since incorporation. To have any one of them so distrustful and up in arms is shameful. To have one of the oldest, most organized and formerly supportive in this condition should be alarming.

Addressing why residents don’t think the city is on their side should be the first step, quickly followed by preparing residents for the scoping process and traffic corridor study.

Yet there is hope to be found here that we can move forward together.

The city and community do have common goals.

The city and community both want improved communications.

The time to identify impacts and potential mitigation for those impacts is ahead, not behind, us.

The developer does have cause to negotiate with the city and neighborhood if for no other reason than to provide predictability on costs.

The Richmond Beach community has a long history of effectively participating in these types of situations. The neighborhood is thirsty for information that will help it successfully navigate the Point Wells issue.

The City of Shoreline has a good reputation for working with individual property owners during the design of road improvements to successfully minimize impacts property by property, street by street. The Aurora Corridor Project is an excellent example. Fortunately, some of the key staff that made that project successful are also working on Point Wells.

Now is the time for everyone to do their part in moving back to working together.

Once we get past this communications rift we can better meet the challenges and make the most impact on the significant change on the horizon presented by development at Point Wells.