‘The least we can do,’ Lynnwood reworks immigrant protection legislation, reviews event and hygiene center upgrade proposals 

The Lynnwood City Council at its March 2 meeting reviewed and brainstormed the next moves in major City projects and initiatives, including the 13-acre Lynnwood Event Center redevelopment, a proposed resolution on immigrant protection, and Lynnwood’s homelessness response related to a potential Lynnwood Hygiene Center upgrade. 

Mountlake Terrace sewage lift station agreement updates

City staff are in the process of updating a 44-year-old agreement with the City of Mountlake Terrace for emergency sewage management. Since 1977, one of Lynnwood’s sewage lift stations (Lift Station No. 12 at 7000 216th St. S.W.) has been connected to Mountlake Terrace’s sewage line. Occasionally, Lynnwood will shut down the station for emergencies or maintenance and temporarily reroute sewage into Mountlake Terrace’s system. 

The upgraded agreement doesn’t propose any major changes, Lynnwood Water and Sewer Utility Manager Nick Stokes told the Council Monday, but rather updates the language and reaffirms the partnership with Mountlake Terrace. Lynnwood pays Mountlake Terrace a fine of $5.22 per 100 cubic feet (or 748 gallons) when it diverts sewage, according to City documents.

“Why this agreement is so important is because it allows us an option for those emergency conditions and those maintenance procedures for when we’re taking care of our pumps and other lift stations that could potentially feed into that area,” Stokes said. 

The Council is set to vote whether to approve the updated agreement at a future meeting. 

Read the full updated agreement here. 

‘The District’ master plan update

The Lynnwood Public Facilities District (PFD) is in the process of a massive project to redevelop the 13-acre plot of land the Lynnwood Event Center sits on. On Monday, PFD Executive Director Janet Pope provided an update on the project after the Council in October voted to back the PFD in a $15 million bond to move the project forward.  

Estimated to cost nearly $600 million, the project aims to replace asphalt with green space, add a 300-room hotel, 400 mixed-use housing units with commercial/retail space on the ground floor, a 500-stall parking garage and an expanded event center complete with indoor and outdoor public spaces for public and paid use. 

While the cost is steep, Pope said the current 1960s-era strip mall buildings are “falling down.”

“There’s parts that you can’t purchase anymore,” she said. “We have an HVAC unit we replaced in December and we have to turn around and replace the same unit here in a few weeks. It’s these ongoing issues where the maintenance of those buildings is eating into the income… I encourage you to think about what happens if we do nothing. Those would just become really derelict buildings.” 

Before going in depth on project updates, Pope announced Summer Sounds, a new, free summer concert series the PFD plans to sponsor in summer 2026. Each Wednesday, the event center campus will host a concert, complete with local food and craft vendors. The intention is to bring more regular events to Lynnwood, especially with the FIFA World Cup coming to Seattle this summer. 

“We want people who are staying in Lynnwood to have events and things to do in Lynnwood,” Pope said. “So they can go out on both game days and not-game days.” 

Pope said the project recently entered the schematic design phase, where the PFD will further hone in on design specifics, including architectural and spatial renderings and more detailed site maps. Building and outdoor space renderings are expected to emerge during this phase, along with a set of design standards for the entire project. In turn, these design standards will help those in charge pinpoint a cost estimate and work toward development and construction. 

Groundbreaking is planned for 2028, Pope said, but the project likely won’t be fully completed until between 2030 and 2032. However, the PFD plans to complete construction in phases, opening the space to the public as construction progresses. 

Pope said the PFD has a strong local vision for the project and recently hired a retail consultant to help curate local retailers for the area, with an emphasis on minority and/or women-owned businesses. Pope said the retail consultant also worked on the University Village Shopping Center in Seattle, which is a major inspiration for The District. 

Through a series of public surveys, the consultant will help recruit local businesses the community desires most. There are also plans in place to start a small business program ahead of project completion, allowing local businesses to get started with pop-ups, food trucks and opportunities for internships and apprentice programs. 

Although Pope couldn’t announce any names, the PFD also recently completed the proposals process for development, project advisory, architecture and conceptual design. Next year the PFD will begin “tackling” funding through grants and bonds and progress further toward construction. 

“We’ve got a super strong team leading into getting the schematic design done, and then hopefully moving forward to get a general contractor over the summer before going to the state for a public review process,” she said. 

The PFD is also working with Snohomish County Emergency Management with the intent to use the expanded event center as an emergency center. Currently, the only emergency center in the County is located in Monroe, leaving a large gap between that and the King County center. The intent is to equip a portion of the event center to allow for showers and generator hookups to provide shelter in the case of a large-scale emergency. 

Aside from the project updates, Pope said the PFD is undergoing major organizational changes, including a planned transition from private to internal management. Currently, the PFD employs a business/event manager to attract and orchestrate events in the events center. By 2028, Pope said the PFD will move to handle this internally, giving the organization more control over operations and what kinds of events are happening at the center. 

The PFD’s current annual economic impact sits at about $10 million, but the redevelopment is projected to increase that number to nearly $80 million. At that rate, Pope estimated it would be about 30 years before the PFD is able to break even on the general $600 million price tag for the project. 

“It’s a very large-cost project,” Pope said. “It just depends on how much money we’re making and what our debt payment is projected to be.” 

Councilmember Derica Escamilla said she was excited about the project, stating she had heard people call it the “crown jewel of the north,” and comparing it to the likes of Bellevue Square Mall and University Village Shopping Center. However, recalling childhood memories of playing in the Seattle Center fountain, she expressed a desire to incorporate similar elements open for free public use. 

While plans aren’t concrete, Pope said green spaces and potentially a playground or water feature are a top priority for those working on the project. 

In addition to learning from U Village developers, Pope said the PFD has “picked the brains of Seattle Center quite a bit, but another inspiration was South Lake Union,” in Seattle – specifically the trickle water feature in front of the Museum of History and Industry. 

“We’re really intentionally thinking about not having it be a heat corridor,” Pope said. “So the landscaping and the floral pieces and the water features will be really important.” She also said there have been discussions of a potential dog park and a child care center. 

“Whether those are accessible to the public or not is still to be seen,” she said. 

Read more about The District here or on the PFD’s website. 

Lynnwood Hygiene Center next steps

The Council on Feb. 25 hosted a roundtable discussion on the Lynnwood Hygiene Center, inviting residents and stakeholders to discuss the future of the center after Edmonds-based travel writer and philanthropist Rick Steves purchased and saved it from closure in December. 

At the March 2 meeting, Councilmembers reported what they learned from the breakout groups during the work session, touching on the community’s priorities and concerns for the Center and the City’s approach to homelessness. 

While Steves expressed a desire to expand the center’s operations into a more permanent stay facility, the Jean Kim Foundation – which owns the center – said it doesn’t have the capacity to do that. 

Interim Assistant City Administrator Lynn Sordel suggested continuing collaboration with the Foundation and exploring a “Good Neighbor Agreement.” Modeled after a Portland program, the agreement would establish accountability standards for cleanliness, loitering and security between the center, the city, businesses and police. Mayor George Hurst also proposed initiating discussions with regional partners about potentially adding a day-use center or overnight shelter to the back of the property.

Councilmembers generally agreed that the City needed to act quickly to make the most of Steves’ generosity in helping Lynnwood’s homeless population. Councilmember Isabel Mata strongly advocated for bringing an overnight shelter to Lynnwood, noting that currently unhoused residents in Lynnwood have no choice but to sleep in their cars or at parks. She also proposed adding safe, patrolled parking lots to provide a safe place for people to stay in their cars overnight. 

Councilmember Bryce Owings, who has previously been homeless, warned that without proper resources and security safeguards, safe parking lots can be dangerous and potential hubs for drug activity. He noted that sometimes drug dealers intentionally will target temporary shelters and lots where unhoused people stay. 

Councilmembers Robert Leutwyler and Chelsea Wright urged the Council to take a cautious approach, working with resources the City currently has at its disposal before pursuing large efforts. Leutwyler proposed it would be good for the Council to explore how it can make it as easy as possible for Steves to operate the facility, potentially through fee waivers or other assistance. 

“I had a similar sentiment to look at what we have in front of us and how to build it from there,” Councilmember Wright said. She urged the Council to not attempt to “reinvent the wheel,” stating the importance of working with local municipalities, agencies and nonprofits with experience in the matter. 

“We don’t want to have to backtrack and fix what we did that was broken,” Wright said. “Having those conversations and having the right people at the table is going to be critical.” 

Still, Councilmember Escamilla said the Council should act quickly, stating that there are many people in Lynnwood in need of shelter at this very moment. She said that during the roundtable discussion, there happened to be three homeless people gathered in the lobby of City Hall because the cold weather shelter wasn’t open that day. 

“We literally had unhoused people in our lobby during the meeting and we had nowhere to even send them,” Escamilla said. “To me, that was like a slap in the face.” 

Immigrant protection resolution

The Council also continued discussion of a resolution proposed by Councilmember Mata to reaffirm the City’s stance on immigrant protections and human rights following recent federal immigration enforcement activities. After receiving feedback from City attorneys and Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon, Mata reworked the language of the resolution and presented it for further review Monday. The Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution at its next business meeting. 

The revised resolution directs the mayor to ensure staff across all departments understand policies protecting immigrants and limits the use of city resources for civil immigration enforcement. It also reaffirms that police will confirm the identity of federal agents “if possible” and render medical aid “if safe to do so.” Further, the resolution requires City staff to distribute resources to the community to help ensure residents are aware of their rights under the law and U.S. Constitution. 

Previously, the resolution advised the police to intervene upon witnessing overreach or excessive force from federal law enforcement officers. However, Langdon said that posed potential physical and legal risks for officers and residents. 

Mata explained that the changes, modeled after a similar resolution in Lake Forest Park, ensure  the city does not make false promises to the community or place local officers in unlawful confrontations with federal agents. Police Chief Langdon stated his support for the revised language, confirming it aligns with existing department policy, state law and de-escalation practices. Owings voiced support for the softened language, noting it protects residents without drawing a “big red target” on the city.

“There’s only so much we can do as a City,” Mata said. “I think that we need to do this just to communicate and reaffirm values during a time where people are really scared. I think that’s the least we can do.” 

The meeting recording and agenda are available on the City’s website.

— Contact Ashley at ashley@myedmondsnews.com.