Statements from Shoreline Council candidates on Point Wells

Shoreline City Council candidates Lorn Richey, Jesse Salomon and Michael Bachety recently sent statements about what the city should do about the proposed development at Point Wells, just north of Richmond Beach in unincorporated southwest Snohomish County.

Richey and Bachety are challenging incumbent Councilman Salomon in the Aug. 4 primary election, which will advance two candidates to the Nov. 3 general election.

Here are statements from the three candidates in the order that their names will appear on the primary ballot and in the primary voters’ pamphlet:

Lorn Richey

Point Wells is an example of our top-down system. An oil company uses the space to make money and should clean it up. Instead, they sell it to a developer with the idea that the cost of cleanup will be transferred to the new tenants. This leads the development to expand from hundreds of units to thousands of units -- with Shoreline residents picking up the costs and negative impacts.

Point Wells should be a park for the people, with minimal development and access points.

I am working to build consensus with all stakeholders to stop the project through City procedures, traffic controls, and demonstrated public support. If we can’t stop it, we can control it.

Shoreline can win by generating citizen support in King and Snohomish County to stand up for our environment and hardworking families.

This should be an election issue not just in Shoreline but in all King and Snohomish County elections – over a few election cycles. I am working to build this wide and powerful consensus, but I need your support!

Jesse Salomon

Richmond Beach is a longstanding and special neighborhood. I've devoted much of my time on the council to Point Wells issues because of the potentially devastating effect of the project.

I supported an amicus brief to the State Supreme Court to invalidate the developer's permit. Unfortunately the court ruled for the developer.

I also voted to move forward on a tolling study but it didn't pass the council. Hopefully we can reconsider soon.

Recently we've seen new leadership in Snohomish County that appears more willing to acknowledge they granted the permit against their own rules. A large development has to be served by mass transit, which it is obviously not.

Because of this Save Richmond Beach and the City are challenging them to limit any development to 90 feet and build a second access road into Woodway.

Simultaneously the City is negotiating for funds to address road impacts and may seek to annex Point Wells to give us more control.

Together we are making progress to reclaim Richmond Beach's future.

Michael Bachety

Turning an aging industrial blight, on the water, into a revitalized living space with bike lanes, beaches and homes for 2600-3000 families sounds like a step forward. Unfortunately, this is not the full picture and this project should not move forward.

There are many concerns: impact on utilities, sewers, water, traffic and the volume capacity of Richmond Beach road. There is also another great concern.

I have worked 20 years as a union photojournalist and covered too many preventable tragedies. I also volunteer with the city of Shoreline in emergency management. A major issue that is not discussed is an evacuation plan. Point Wells is a peninsula. This means there is only one direction to run. We cannot in good conscience plant thousands of additional families at sea level with only one road out. This plan needs to be minimized, in addition to another road access, and it is the duty of our council-members to be defenders of their city and to work towards a safe community that fits within the capacity of our infrastructure.