The ebb and flow of a city's future

I enjoy visiting downtown Edmonds.

Nice, small, walkable downtown. A boardwalk along the water, a couple of sandy beaches to play on, an underwater park where you can watch two-legged creatures wearing fins and masks emerge from the briny deep. Even the ferry and train terminals are OK.

Not to mention spectacular views from the Edmonds Bowl, a geographic feature that has allowed thousands of houses to be built on view property in an amphitheater-shaped area behind the downtown core. Which makes it understandable that a number of residents don't want the downtown's commercial/retail/residential building heights raised. The fear is that could alter the character of the downtown area and could impact some residents' picture-postcard views of Puget Sound, the Olympics, oncoming storms and beautiful sunsets.

The city also may face a budget dilemma in the next couple of years, because its revenues aren't growing fast enough to keep pace with expenses.

Edmonds may be Snohomish County's second-largest city, at 40,000-plus people, but its sales-tax revenue is small for its size. Next-door-neighbor Lynnwood is a vast sea of retail and commercial development ringed by residences. Edmonds is a sea of residences with a few commercial/retail islands.

Some city officials have said that, if nothing changes, Edmonds could reach a point in 2009 where more money is going out than coming in. Unlike tides on the Sound that ebb and flow, in Edmonds the financial tide apparently only ebbs.

What to do. What to do.

The Edmonds City Council has gone back and forth the past few years over the issue of building heights, trying to make the downtown more attractive to development money while not sacrificing the aesthetics of the area for homeowners or visitors.

At one point, the council supported a 33-foot limit on building heights in the downtown core — the minimum height some developers said they needed in order to initiate any projects there. Then came an election, and two of the 33-footers were voted out.

The new council reaffirmed what's basically a 30-foot height limit.

Now another election is approaching, and Edmonds voters will have another say in how the city proceeds, factoring in this new element of the financial situation. Raise building heights or property taxes? Trim services and expenses and/or find new revenue sources?

However the election turns out, the next couple of years will be important for Edmonds as the city decides how it's going to move forward.

Scott Barry: 425-745-7816 or sbarry@seattletimes.com