Restoring lighthouse part of plan to jump-start waterfront

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The town symbol -- its lighthouse -- is a perfect example of Mukilteo's potential. Built in 1906, the 30-foot octagonal tower and two adjoining caretaker homes are undoubtedly the most photographed buildings in the city.

Mim Loree and other members of the Mukilteo Historical Society are leading an effort to reclaim the lighthouse and houses, which sit next to Mukilteo State Park. The society hopes to open them for tours, teas, receptions -- even overnight rentals.

The volunteers finished a two-year fund-raising project in April that boosted the repair kitty and provided a beautiful new tile floor in the lighthouse.

The society and the city are considering following the lead of the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse restoration project, which allows couples and families to rent the lighthouse residence for a nominal amount in return for doing light maintenance work. Loree says the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse has a one-year waiting list of interested renters.

One problem facing the Mukilteo project is the lead paint on the Coast Guard homes. Because it was the type used to coat ship hulls, the paint must be painstakingly removed and disposed of as a hazardous material. A group of Boeing volunteers has promised to take on the job, as well as some restoration work inside the homes.

East of the lighthouse is Mukilteo's biggest blemish: the jet-fuel tank farm owned by the Department of Defense. The department announced it was abandoning the tank farm in 1988, but it has taken almost a decade for the cleanup work to begin. A contract has been awarded to remove the tanks this summer, says city administrator Richard Leahy.

By the end of September, the 10 fuel tanks should be gone and the cleanup work well under way. The 20-acre tank farm is a hazardous waste site and may require three to five years of cleanup, according to Leahy.

One long-discussed idea is to relocate and expand Mukilteo's ferry terminal to the tank farm property and redevelop the entire waterfront as a commercial shopping district.

What Mukilteo lacks is the quaint pedestrian environment that makes places like Edmonds popular with shoppers. The redevelopment project could add a waterfront promenade, a chain of waterfront parks, a renovated public pier and a network of landscaped public paths.

The Port of Everett also has expressed some interest in developing a small-boat marina along the waterfront.

And there's a possibility of siting a train station there, which would dovetail with the regional commuter train service under development.

Perhaps the biggest and toughest piece to the waterfront puzzle is rerouting ferry traffic, which routinely backs up the Mukilteo Speedway, blocking driveways and driving the locals crazy.

One idea has been to extend Paine Field Boulevard, which is now under construction, north of state Route 526. The route would pass through a forested area known as Japanese Gulch, near the Mukilteo-Everett border.

The proposed new road would eliminate the ferry traffic that chokes downtown Mukilteo and clogs the Mukilteo Speedway.

Chuck Lee, a former Mukilteo city councilman, snorts at the idea, not because he thinks it's a bad one, but because it has been talked about for so long. Generations of surveyors have made a living mapping out the phantom road, jokes Lee.

"Why do they keep studying it to death? I don't expect to see anything done in my lifetime the way it's going," says Lee, co-owner of Design Consultants, a building design firm located in a former gas station.