Lynnwood council eliminates stacked late utility fees, imposes EV charging fees

The Lynnwood City Council deliberated city policy late into the night at its Monday meeting. In a nearly four-hour meeting, the council eliminated compounding late utility fees, introduced a fee at the city’s electric vehicle charging stations and continued a months-long debate over whether to legalize cannabis sales in Lynnwood. 

Key takeaways: 

• The council eliminated compounding late utility fees, making it easier for people to catch up with late payments. 
• The council confirmed Ben Wolters as the city’s new Business and Development Services Director. 
• The council approved a $0.39/kwh fee at the EV charging stations outside city hall – effective next week.  
• An ordinance confirming the status of a potential city youth council was once again pushed to a future meeting for council consideration. 
• The council considered items for inclusion in a draft ordinance to overturn Lynnwood’s ban on cannabis sales. 

Disability Awareness Day proclamation: The council issued a proclamation recognizing Disability Awareness Day on July 26. It was accepted by local advocates and Scarlett Scott, a poet who read an original piece following the proclamation. 

Hear Scott’s poem here. The text is also included below:

Ink – by Scarlett Scott

Sometimes I feel drowned in the black ink that tells my story, the author afraid to let their character be courageous and no matter how hard I try to block the black ballpoint pen from deciding my destiny, I slip in the sloppy handwriting, scrambling to finish tomorrow’s chapter.
Actually, maybe it’s not a ballpoint pen but a quill contriving the quiet little story of my life, a quill that soars higher than I fear I ever will.
Why does my author autograph my life with so many challenges? I don’t want to fight the monster who is on my mind or battle a broken body. I wouldn’t want kids to have to read my story in an uneventful, English class and write painful papers on why I’m riddled with a life not meant to be easy.
But then I remember no character is created to have an easy life. They are made to make the hard decisions, and so I’m determined to decide my own. And when somebody asks me “who are you”? I will not hesitate to say.. .
I am the girl going wherever I want to, because I stole the ink. And you can follow in my footsteps if you want or forge your own, look towards the next chapter, and write your own tomorrow.

New Development and Business Services Director: The council unanimously confirmed Ben Wolters as Lynnwood’s new Development and Business Services Director. Wolters has worked as the city’s Economic Development Manager since 2021. He’s replacing Director David Kleitsch, who is retiring after 25 years working for the city. 

Learn more about Wolters here. 

No more compounding late fees: On Monday, the council unanimously approved an ordinance to only charge a fee equal to 10% of late utility fees owed only in the latest billing cycle – eliminating compounding late fees. Previously, the city imposed a fee of 10% of the total balance a person owed in late utility fees, making it difficult for people to catch up with late fees. 

“I don’t think that compounding fines was actually [of] any real monetary value to the city,” Councilmember Patrick Decker said. He added that eliminating compounding fees was “…good for the residents of Lynnwood, and it will certainly help our finance team and our utility billing team as well.”

EV charging fees: At the time of reporting, the electric vehicle charging stations outside city hall are free for public use. That’s set to change next week after the council on Monday approved a $0.39 kilowatt-per-hour charging fee. The city unveiled the new stations in May. The fees will go toward maintenance and replacement costs. 

Learn more here. 

Draft cannabis ordinance: The council on Monday worked on an ordinance that upon approval, could overturn Lynnwood’s ban on cannabis sales. 

• Councilmembers gave a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to the city Planning Commission’s proposed guidelines and regulations on cannabis sales, giving city staff direction on what to include in a draft ordinance. 
• The council gave feedback on whether to allow sales in residential and commercial zones and taking into account the state-mandated distance between retail cannabis outlets and entities such as schools and public parks. 
• Cannabis has been legal in Washington since 2012, but sales are illegal in Lynnwood following a ban approved by the city council in 2015. 
• The council is scheduled to vote in September whether to overturn the ban. 

Specifically, the council provided direction on which zones to allow retail cannabis in. The follow zones were identified:

• General Commercial
• Highway 99 Mixed Used
• City Center
• Alderwood
• Alderwood-City Center
• Planned Commercial Development

The council agreed to include planned future parks in the state-restricted entities list and to reduce all variable buffers for all permitted zones to 100 feet. Councilmember David Parshall proposed adding all Edmonds School District properties, essential public facilities and drug treatment centers to the restricted entities list but there was no consensus to add these. Councilmember Patrick Decker proposed adding places of worship to the restricted entities list, but that proposal also didn’t receive council consensus.

The council provided additional direction that there should be no required separation distance between cannabis retailers, no additional advertisement restrictions beyond those in state law, and that cannabis retail locations should follow the citywide design guidelines for building design, colors and the use of bollards.

Learn more here.

Delayed action on a city youth council: After heated debate, the council again put off a decision giving city employees direction on how to move forward in establishing Lynnwood’s first-ever youth council. The council is set to choose between two options: 

Option 1: Formally establish the youth council as a city commission or board – making the group an official advisory body to the council. This would require adherence to state public record laws, complicated by the council being made up of minors. 

Option 2: Establish the group as a youth engagement program operated through the Lynnwood Parks and Recreation Department. This option would be less formal, giving the group flexibility outside the bounds of the strict laws required of official government entities. 

• Councilmember Derica Escamilla and Council Vice President Josh Binda, who are co-sponsoring  the effort, opposed the second option. The two argued that the proposition goes against what they said was the initial mission to establish the youth council as a formal advisory body. 
• However, Parks and Recreation Director Joel Faber said the group could operate exactly as intended under the supervision of his department. 
• The vote was postponed for a later date after City Attorney Lisa Marshall posed concerns over the ordinance set before the council on Monday. Marshall said she made suggestions to this ordinance to make it stronger against potential legal challenges, but those changes were not reflected in the ordinance presented. 

Other business: 

• The council approved an amendment to city code establishing a uniform deadline of 45 days to submit taxes after the end of a quarter for city utilities, gambling taxes and admission tax. 
• The council approved changes to a contract with the Lynnwood Police Department regarding medically assisted treatment used in the Lynnwood Jail. 

View the full meeting recording here.

— Contact Ashley at ashley@myedmondsnews.com.