ARLINGTON — “It’s been a good year for Arlington in the state legislature,” Al Aldrich, the city’s consultant with the firm Strategies 360, told the Arlington City Council July 27.
Aldrich conceded it was a good year for a lot of jurisdictions, having delivered a similar report to the Marysville City Council.
However, while Marysville’s nine legislators in three districts helped push through its projects, Aldrich noted that Arlington also benefitted from some outside help, including representatives Norma Smith of the 10th District and June Robinson of the 38th District.
“We’ve developed good relationships with legislators who don’t even represent our district,” said Aldrich, who still emphasized the roles played by Sen. Kirk Pearson and Rep. Dan Kristiansen, who do represent Arlington, in pushing through the $39.3 million widening of Highway 531, as well as the bill authorizing Arlington, Marysville and Lake Stevens to exempt new manufacturing or industrial facilities from local property taxes.
While the 531 project is slated for 2019-25, Aldrich was optimistic that it could start sooner.
“It’s ready to go, right out of the box, so we’ll be looking to move it up if other projects stumble,” said Aldrich, who credited Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert with “telling the city’s story” during visits to the area by the chairs of the House and Senate transportation committees.
Aldrich explained that the project’s other advantages, for consideration by the legislature, were that the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County placed it on its coordinated list, and that Arlington worked with the state Department of Transportation to draw up a practical design for the road widening, which lowered its projected cost.
The 531 project was not included in the Senate’s initially agreed-upon package in February, but Aldrich cited the role of Rep. Dave Hayes, also of the 10th District, in resubmitting the project, two hours before deadline.
“If we hadn’t gotten on that list, it would have been the death knell for this project,” Aldrich said. “Fortunately, enough folks support economic recovery in this area, and know what we’ve already done to pick up that load.”
Aldrich likewise praised the support of Sen. Steve Hobbs of the 44th District, as well as Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring on both the 531 project and ESB 5761.
Moving to the capital budget, Aldrich noted that his numbers differed slightly from what had already been reported by other press outlets, as he reported that $2.242 million would go toward the expansion of the Arlington Boys & Girls Club, with another $2 million going to Whitehorse Trail development and $296,000 to the Darrington Skate Park.
“At the start of this session, everything was doom and gloom,” Arlington city council member Chris Raezer said. “What happened?”
“The biggest change was that our revenue forecast kept getting bigger and bigger,” Aldrich said. “We’ve had a lot of people moving into this area. It might not be as strong in the rest of the state, but it’s strong in Puget Sound.”
