10 years ago 1998
The city of Arlington is growing at such a rapid rate that the citys comprehensive plan, adopted in 1995, is more and more obsolete. In planning for the inevitable population boom, city planners have set a target date of August for making amendments to the citys 20-year comprehensive plan. The plan, which was formed around Snohomish Countys projections for growth in Arlington, was drafted in 1992 and expires in 2012. But John Burkholder, city planner, estimates the projected population that was expected to reach Arlington by the 2012 date will come sooner than anyone expected. We believe that well achieve the 2012 projection by 2003 or 2004, Burkholder said. So the city recently released a capital facilities progress report (a capital facility is defined as a facility that costs more than $10,000 and has a useful life of more than 10 years). It outlines what city planners believe the population boom will mean to the citys various departments. In a perfect world, every city has enough revenue to outfit its police and fire departments with the latest technology and also hire a new cop or firefighter whenever it needs. But when money is tight, that new cop may never come or the city has to look at other areas where the belt can be tightened to bring a new officer on board. Sometimes the area that gets cut isnt a popular choice among residents, such as the citys parks and recreational venues, because it ends up cutting into quality of life. Fortunately, under the Park Capital Facilities Plan, which lists various parks the city wants to build and the money it will need for them over the next six years, a large portion of projected parks are being funded by developers, including two- to four-acre residential parks inside the Gleneagle development and a quarter-acre mini park in Crown Ridge. Other parks, not funded by developers, include a 55-acre community park with soccer and softball fields, the addition of a skateboard facility at Haller Park and several smaller parks located along Centennial Trail. The estimated total financial need is $2 million over six years, the final year being 2004. Bob Nathan, chairman of the parks board, complimented the city for packaging and presenting these numbers to the board. Weve never really had this information. I think the staff did a wonderful job on it. It required a lot of work and the information is very accurate, said Nathan, in his second term as chairman. The next step in the planning process is for each department to examine the plan and develop a list of assumptions and alternatives for the city.

25 years ago 1983
The City Council was surprised to receive a delegation of about 15 airport business owners last week who came to request the Councils reconsideration of current lease costs and duration. The immediate result was the formation of a committee to discuss leasing practices, with representation from the Council, airport commission and the airport businesses. Val Durham, president of Tel-Tone, spoke for the business owners citing a list of concerns which included the cost of their leases, the length of those leases, the lack of consideration for capital improvements to their individual property and the possibility of restrained future expansion due to property appraisals getting out of hand and forcing us to re-think our commitments. Mayor John Larson proposed the committee idea and it was seconded by Councilman Jim Jones who said, We havent involved the business community in this process before and we need to take a fresh look at these concerns. The members of the committee appointed by the mayor include himself, Councilman Jones, Councilwoman Bea Randall, businessman Bob Williams, airport Manager Done Meier, City Supervisor Howard Christianson, Airport Commission Chairman Dale Duskin and Commissioner Jack Erickson. The principle issue at the airport appears to be the cost of leases which increased dramatically after the property was appraised in February 1981, the first appraisal in over 25 years. Property that had been valued at about $3,700 an acre, jumped to $34,000 to $40,000 per acre. The 1981 appraisal was undertaken following audits by the state Leasehold Tax Commission and the Federal Aviation Authority. Both agencies said that the old property values were substantially below the fair market price and the state wasnt getting a reasonable tax return. The FAAs audit reflected their concern that the airport wasnt receiving enough income from the property to adequately maintain and improve airport facilities. Annual lease costs are based on 10 percent of the lands appraised value. Thus, property that had been leased at about $370 per acre could have jumped up to $4,000 per acre, per year. The airport commission, however, decided to impose the new costs in a staggered method. By way of comparison, appraised value of industrial land at Paine Field in Everett ranges up to $90,000 and their airport commission imposed those increases at 100 percent.

50 years ago 1958
A lively discussion of the local telephone situation was held at the Arlington Lions Club meeting, when Messrs. Lloyd Wallgren and John Gilday, West Coast Telephone Co. officials, were guests of the club. Mr. Wallgren, district manager, exhibited charts showing the growth, investment and return and the need for additional capital to keep up with the rapid growth of the company. Following his presentation, he asked if there were any questions and there followed a barrage of questions as to improvements of service, why billing is so staggered that balances appear on statements previously paid. Some questioners felt the proposed advance in rates unjustified. As to the billing, Mr. Gilday, district commercial supervisor, stated there are over 100,000 monthly bills and to mail all these at one time would require a large office force for a few days and idleness the rest of the month, whereas by mailing different sections throughout the month the same crew is kept steadily employed. Mr. Wallgren pointed out that the cost per telephone in 1957 was $301 against $216 in 1952. Wages, he said, have advanced from $535,925 to $648,468 in the five year period.