Shoreline city council considers budget amendments

A map shows the approximate location of a 318 foot sidewalk requested by Mayor Chris Roberts on 25th Ave NE

By Oliver Moffat

Budget amendments under consideration by the Shoreline City Council would add funds for a grant writer, a Ballinger sidewalk and a Firlands study while cutting planning for neighborhoods with transit and councilmember travel expenses.

The city council will hold its final public hearing on Shoreline’s 2025-2026 biennial budget on Monday, November 18. 

Unlike neighboring Edmonds which faces a $13 million deficit and Lake Forest Park facing a $3.1 million deficit, Shoreline’s $406,528,812 proposed budget is balanced in all funds.

Ten amendments will be considered by the council before adoption. Here’s a summary. 

In 2023, the city hired a temporary Grant Administrator to help city staff apply for and win grant awards. In 2023 the administrator helped the city receive $1,414,803 in grant awards and the city anticipates receiving $5,165,250 in 2024 with millions more in pending requests with help from the grant writer. 

City staff originally planned to end the position but councilmember Laura Mork has proposed an amendment to permanently fund the position.

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.

Speaking of bike bridges, notably absent from the city’s budget and capital improvement plan is the bridge to Edmonds. 

At a public hearing on Shoreline’s Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) in April, Shoreline Councilmembers John Ramsdell and Annette Ademasu spoke in support of investigating a bridge over SR104 to close a gap in the Interurban Trail.

The city council asked staff to bring back an amendment to add the SR104/Interurban Trail crossing study to the city’s TIP. In May, the council passed the 2025-2030 Transportation Improvement Plan placing the “Interurban Trail SR 104 Crossing” on the list of unfunded transportation projects.

The project is described on page 50 of the 51-page document and says, “staff will further discuss how to prioritize and potentially fund a partnership to progress this project as part of the 2024 CIP update.” But the project does not appear in Shoreline’s 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

Councilmember Keith Scully is proposing cutting $27,500 annually for councilmember travel and training expenses. 

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. All seven councilmembers usually travel to annual conferences of the Association of Washington Cities and the National League of Cities (NLC). 

Mayor Chris Roberts is on the NLC Board and is a member of the Local Indigenous Leaders Constituency Group. The city added funding in the proposed budget for a lobbying trip to D.C. for the Mayor; on a recent trip to Washington D.C, Mayor Roberts met with President Joe Biden. 

One block to the east of the CRISTA retirement community, one block west of the Canopy apartments and one block north of the Shoreline Historical Museum is Firlands Way N. 

The road predates Aurora Ave and has an unusually wide 90 feet of city-owned right of way. A citizen-initiated proposal would convert the road into a six acre, tree-lined pedestrian friendly public space. 

Before that can happen, the city must conduct a study, preferably as a part of a larger subarea plan. The city plans to study the Firlands Way proposal from 185th to 188th street but councilmember Laura Mork proposed a budget amendment to extend the Firlands Way study all the way north to 195th. 

The proposal could be both a transportation project and a park project and bring badly needed open space to the rapidly urbanizing neighborhood near Aurora. 

The city council added the Firlands Way proposal to the Transportation Improvement Plan in May but the project did not appear in the 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Councilmember Mork also has proposed another amendment to pay for Historical Signage on Firlands Way.

A map from the city shows the location of High Activity Areas (HAAs) that may (or may not) receive subarea planning

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 allocated $600,000 in the proposed budget for the work but an amendment from Mayor Chris Roberts would cut the subarea planning from the budget.

 

City staff say the planning is a response to community feedback received while updating the Comprehensive Plan. Although the city doesn’t name the specific neighborhoods to receive planning, the budget says there will be two neighborhoods studied and mentions Firlands Way as a specific area that could receive planning. 

The city charges lower transportation impact fees for development in High Activity Areas to concentrate development in neighborhoods near transit but only the southern portion of Firlands Way is within an HAA.

 
The city is finalizing its 2024 Comprehensive Plan now and has previously completed neighborhood 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, Point Wells in 2020 and approved a Fircrest School Master Development Plan and Shoreline Place Community Renewal Area in 2023.

An amendment by Mayor Chris Roberts would spend $500,000 to complete a 318 foot section of sidewalk along 25th Ave NE north of Brugger's Bog Park. 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 sidewalk does not appear in the city’s 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and the proposed sidewalk is not in the Transportation Improvement Plan nor is it on the city’s list of future sidewalk projects. The Mayor’s proposed sidewalk is in the Ballinger neighborhood which is not one of the city’s High Activity Areas. 

The city is proposing an amendment to continue six months to keep its Sound Transit Light Rail Project Manager position for six more months to close out and finalize remaining work. The city says there is sufficient funds to cover the expense.

 
Earlier this year the city ended its twenty-year sister city relationship with Boryeong City, South Korea. 

Councilmember Eben Pobee has proposed forming a new sister city relationship with Akropong, Ghana and has submitted a budget amendment for $15,000 annually to support the Sister Cities Association.

Councilmember Betsy Robertson proposed the city sponsor a winter light display at the Park at Town Center.

Councilmember John Ramsdell proposed an amendment to add $145,000 to pay a behavioral health case manager to provide mental health services for low income seniors at the Shoreline Lake Forest Park Senior Center. 

But the proposed budget already increases annual funding for the Senior Center from $95,708 to $180,000 and city staff said the increased funding will cover the cost of the social worker as described in the city’s Human Services Strategic Plan.