With the start of the Crossroads project in Bothell, completion of a new Kenmore City Hall and other civic improvements — not to mention the recently completed state elections — there was no shortage of topics for conversation in the Northshore area in the past year.
December 2009-January 2010
• Wald Pool closes
“We’re just a small, little nonprofit swim club,” said Mike McGinnis, vice-president of the West Coast Aquatics board of directors, explaining in late December 2009 why his organization was opting out of its contract to operate the Carole Ann Wald swimming pool in Kenmore’s St. Edward State Park.
Like the previous operator, West Coast said the pool was a drain on its finances, one it just couldn’t sustain. Still shuttered, the state-owned pool closed its doors Dec. 30, 2009.
In the wake of the closing, Kenmore City Council authorized an engineering study that shows the pool needs at least $416,000 in immediate repairs before it can reopen. Early this month, despite some active support from the community, the state parks and recreation commission may have written the pool’s last chapter in a letter to Kenmore Mayor David Baker.
On Dec. 9, parks Director Don Hoch wrote that the state intends to officially decommission the pool and that long-range plans call for the removal of the pool from the park.
• Bikini coffee shops
After his original Beehive Espresso stand was torn down to make way for Bothell’s Crossroads project, coffee-stand operator Alan Tagle reopened his bikini coffee stand just a few blocks away on Northeast Bothell Way, ironically, in the same location as the former Dolce Vita stand.
Dolce Vita’s operator Amber Streitler had gained some publicity for opposing bikini-clad baristas, putting up signs that both declared her stand as family friendly and offered the opinion that “Bikinis are for beaches.” In the end though, Tagle was able to lease the Bothell Way property for his operation.
More recently, a bikini coffee stand in Kenmore grabbed headlines. In late November, King County Sheriff’s detectives reported they were looking into allegations a female barista at the Best Friend stand exposed herself to a male customer. Detectives have since dropped the case, but stating he and his family were embarrassed by the resulting publicity, the stand’s operator apologized to city officials and did away with any scantily clad baristas.
February
• School issues pass
Voters gave the Northshore School District three votes of confidence and still weren’t finished helping the district’s bottom line in 2010. In a special election on Feb. 24, voters renewed a $169 million operating levy, a much smaller $24 million technology levy, as well as a $149 million bond issue for capital improvements throughout the district.
Later, in August, voters passed the fourth school money issue in less than a year, approving a supplemental levy meant to help close a projected $2.9 million gap in the district’s 2010-2011 budget.
• Kenmore Village
Long slated for a rebuilding, which long has been delayed, the Kenmore Village shopping center lost a major tenant when Grocery Outlet moved to a new location on Northeast Bothell Way. The store’s owner said she needed a long-term lease, which was not being offered her at Kenmore Village.
April
• City at a Crossroads
After years of discussion and planning, Bothell launched the $62 million project that will see the realignment of the city’s two state routes. Known as the Crossroads project, the work so far has seen the demolition of 15 commercial buildings along State Route 522 from roughly 102nd Avenue Northeast to Northeast 180th Street.
At the same time they began construction on the Crossroads, Bothell officials also started work on a $21.6 million rebuilding of Wayne Curve. Residents have no doubt noticed the large retention wall rising as workers make room for dedicated transit lanes on either side of SR 522 near the 96th Avenue intersection. Work is expected to wrap up in fall 2011.
• For sale: One tiny town
A Bothell couple made national news when they purchased the entire city of Wauconda about 260 miles east of Seattle and consisting of a restaurant, a small store, a gas station, a four-bedroom home and a U.S. Post Office branch. Neal and Maddie Love were slated to pay $360,000 for the town, Maddie Love telling the Reporter the couple planned to sell everything they owned in order to move to what she called “God’s Country:” an isolated spot with no cell-phone service, where you can see the stars at night, as well as hear the crickets.
May
• Kenmore City Hall opens
With a ribbon cutting on May 22, the brand new, $14.4 million building on 68th Avenue Northeast officially became the home of Kenmore government. Critics proclaimed the new City Hall extravagant, but others said the building provides efficiencies not available in the city’s old home.
City officials had been vagabonds previously, temporarily moving to Bothell Way from the old City Hall on Northeast 181st Street, on the outskirts of Kenmore Village. The city vacated that location to make way for a new U.S. Post Office branch. Later, in June, with the post office having moved across the street, the King County Library System began construction of a new $10.4 million branch in the spot where the former post office sat. Construction was projected to take about 10 months.
June
• McMenamins targets Bothell
The Portland-based brew pub announced plans to transform the former Anderson School on State Route 527 into an entertainment complex featuring a 70-room hotel, full-service restaurant along with smaller pub spaces, a movie theater, catering spaces, a gift shop and day spa. The deal with the city, which owned the Anderson building, also calls for McMenamins to take over the closed Ruiz-Costie Northshore swimming pool and allow Bothell residents free access for 15 years.
According to a McMenamins spokesperson, construction on the hotel complex should start in 2012, with an opening planned for June 2013. City officials touted McMenamins’ arrival as a tangible outcome of their plans, in connection with the Crossroads project, to revamp a stretch of SR 527 into a tree-lined, development-friendly boulevard.
• Bastyr opens first dedicated housing
Bastyr University in Kenmore celebrated the opening of 11 three-story dorm buildings, the first major addition to the school campus since it took over its current home. With a total cost of $15.3 million, the buildings were in line to earn Platinum certification for Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design (LEED.) Bastyr’s project may be the first independent university housing project to earn the highest level of LEED certification.
August
• Primary election
Northshore voters set the stage for five general-election contests, perhaps most notably pitting State Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, against Kenmore Mayor David Baker for the District 32 state senate seat. Due to retirements and other factors, of the five local races, only one featured an incumbent seeking re-election to the same office.
September
• New business for Kenmore Village
The long-term future of Kenmore Village is still on hold, but developer Urban Partners announced it had found at least one new tenant for the nearly deserted retail center. A Great Play franchise is slated to open in January. Additionally, Urban Partners said there was some interest in the space formerly belonging to a Mexican restaurant. To date, the developer has made no further announcements about additional tenants.
• Wall of Honor
With the support of alumni, the Northshore School District unveiled a Wall of Honor at Pop Keeney Stadium. With many attending a ceremony at the stadium, the first honorees, district graduates all, include U.S. Sen. Patty Murray; guitarist and founder of the rock band Heart, Roger Fisher; and, Olympic medalists Candy Costie Merrill and Tracie Ruiz Conforto.
November
State Rep. Maralyn Chase became state Sen. Chase as the Shoreline Democrat beat Kenmore’s David Baker. Others headed for Olympia as new representatives of the Northshore include: Derek Stanford, D-Bothell; Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline; and, Luis Moscoso, D-Shoreline. Voters re-elected State Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park.
• A new police chief for Bothell
With Police Chief Forrest Conover ready to retire Jan. 31, city leaders are looking for his replacement from among seven candidates, all of whom met with the public during a reception Nov. 7. Deputy City Manager Steve Anderson said the hope is that a new chief will be named by late December or early January.
December
• Weather makes headlines
As the month began, the news was still all about the late November snow storm that deposited a few inches of white stuff locally. During the weekend of Dec. 11, heavy rains caused flooding problems around the Northshore, especially in Kenmore.
