Shoreline adopts budget with amendments

Back row from left: Councilmembers John Ramsdell, Betsy Robertson, Annette Ademasu, Eben Pobee, Keith Scully

Front row from left: Mayor Chris Roberts, Deputy Mayor Laura Mork

By Oliver Moffat

On Monday, November 18, the Shoreline council adopted the city’s 2025-2026 biannual budget and capital improvement plan with amendments. This is an update from the previous article on the city budget.

The council unanimously approved a $40,000 contribution towards a feasibility study for a bike bridge to Edmonds over SR104 to close a dangerous gap in the Interurban Trail. 

The bike bridge was absent from the city’s original budget and capital improvement plan but after community feedback and public comment, the city added an amendment to pitch in a small amount for a study of the project when and only if another jurisdiction takes the lead. 

The council adopted an amendment from councilmember John Ramsdell to add $145,000 for mental health counseling services for low income seniors at the Shoreline Lake Forest Park Senior Center. 

A previous article incorrectly said the amendment would pay for a case manager. Ramsdell’s amendment will fund a mental health counselor, not a behavioral health case manager. 

Counseling and case management provide distinctly different services. 

In an email, Ramsdell clarified, “Although the senior center's social worker provides many critical services for our seniors, mental health counseling services is not one of them. The need for counseling has been clearly identified as an unmet need at the center.

For example, of the 136 clients served in 2023 by the onsite social worker, 65 exhibited symptoms indicating possible underlying mental health concerns that were impacting their functioning and quality of life.

These include signs of depression and anxiety, unresolved grief, addictive behaviors, and cognitive decline. These clients would have benefited from treatment by a behavioral health provider, which the senior center does not currently provide.”

Earlier this year, the city council added a new goal to conduct neighborhood subarea planning with a focus on High Activity Areas (HAAs) and neighborhood commercial centers and corridors. 

City staff had allocated $600,000 in the proposed budget to pay for two subarea plans but the city council voted five-to-two to cut the funding. 

“This is a huge amount of money,” said councilmember Keith Scully speaking against funding for subarea planning. “I don't think we get any value of subarea plans,” he said.

“I respect the opinions from our colleagues on the Chamber of Commerce, but quite frankly, a subarea plan doesn't get us to any of the goals they've mentioned,” Scully said in response to public comments from the community and chamber of commerce.

“What this ends up doing is getting a ton of staff time, a ton of neighborhood involvement, a ton of comments on a plan that, quite frankly, may never become reality.”

The city has previously completed subarea plans for North City in 2001, Ridgecrest in 2008, the Town Center and Aldercrest in 2011, the 185th Street Station and 145th Street Station in 2015, South Ridgecrest and Briarcrest in 2016, and Point Wells in 2020. 

The city is finalizing its 2024 Comprehensive Plan which studies all areas in the city and will update zoning rules in all neighborhoods. 

“In the next month, we are going to be reviewing the entirety of our development code and our comprehensive plan,” Mayor Chris Roberts said in opposition to subarea plan funding. “We have money in the budget for a comprehensive review of the development code,” he said.

In 2023, the city hired a temporary Grant Administrator who helped the city receive $1,414,803 last year and an anticipated $5,165,250 this year with millions more in pending grant requests. 

The temporary position is set to expire in early 2026 and councilmember Laura Mork proposed an amendment to make the position permanent. The council voted one-to-six against making the position permanent after city staff told the council they can consider making the position permanent in next year’s mid-biennium budget.

The city has been remarkably successful in winning grant money. 

• The City was awarded a $20 million federal grant for the 145th Street corridor project.
• The state awarded a $5 million grant to partially pay for the 145th Street project. 
• With an estimated price tag of $43.6 million, the 148th St non-motorized bridge will be funded in part with grants from the Washington Department of Transportation, Sound Transit, King County, and the $20 million federal grant. 
• According to the city budget, the cost of the 175th project is currently not fully funded and could exceed $90 million but the city was awarded a FEMA grant to rebuild the road near Ronald Bog to mitigate the risk of the street collapsing during a major earthquake. 
• The city is in line for another $3 million grant for 175th and $4 million to fund Shoreline’s Trail Along the Rail.

The city plans to study a citizen-initiated proposal to convert the southern block of Firlands Way into a pedestrian-friendly woonerf. 

The road is the city’s oldest paved road and has an unusually wide 90 feet of city right-of-way. The council voted unanimously to expand the scope of the study northward into the residential portion of the road which could be repurposed as open space in a neighborhood with few parks. 

The council previously discussed the Firlands proposal in 2023. 

The council also approved funding for a historical marker on Firlands Way.

An amendment from councilmember Keith Scully to cut $27,500 annually for councilmember travel and training expenses was rejected in a three-to-four vote. According to city staff, councilmembers took 23 trips in 2024 and 24 trips in 2023. Before COVID, councilmembers took 13 trips in 2018 and 21 trips in 2017. 

The council voted to add a 318 foot section of sidewalk along 25th Ave NE north of Brugger's Bog Park the city’s 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). A sidewalk is already planned to be built along the front of Brugger’s Bog Park and further south, the city plans improvements to its maintenance facility which will include adding a sidewalk. But no plans for a sidewalk north of the park have been planned. 

The proposed sidewalk is not in the Transportation Improvement Plan nor is it on the city’s list of future sidewalk projects. The city says it could cost $500,000 and will evaluate how and when to complete the sidewalk. 

The council unanimously approved funding for a winter light display at the Park at Town Center sponsored by councilmember Betsy Robertson. 

Earlier this year Shoreline ended its twenty-year sister city relationship with Boryeong City, South Korea. The council approved a proposal from councilmember Eben Pobee forming a new sister city relationship with Akropong, Ghana.

Since 2021, the city has spent American Rescue Plan funds on a Community Support Specialist to help residents in need get connected with services. Those funds have now been spent. The council approved one time funds to keep the specialist position for another two years. 

The council will extend its Sound Transit Light Rail Project Manager position for six more months to close out and finalize remaining work.