Category: Blog

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Settlement reached on appeal of Deer Creek regulations

Posted Friday, January 31, 2025
By Beacon Staff

Deer Creek Springs Outfall
Deer Creek Springs Outfall

The Edmonds Environmental Council (EEC) reports it has reached an agreement with the City of Edmonds on suspending the EEC’s appeal of City regulations pending results of a scientific study on stormwater infiltration and its risks of PFAS and other toxins polluting the drinking water aquifer.

According to the settlement agreement, the City will use the study results to make recommendations to the Edmonds City Council on the Deer Creek Aquifer Critical Area Regulations.

The full text of the settlement agreement is available on the EEC website.

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Stream Team report: Record number of salmon in Shell Creek

Posted Sunday, January 12, 2025 6:12 pm

By Joe Scordino
Edmonds Stream Team

  • Maija Jinneman observing a female chum salmon protecting her eggs laid in the gravel. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • Meadowdale High students – Maija Jinneman, Aspen Spivey, Maya LaBelle, Emma Roberts. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • Meadowdale Beach Park visitors responded to this sign with photos and videos. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • Edge of this bridge was modified to provide a salmon passage channel after the underside of the bridge was blocked by sediment, (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • Avery Bergan helps salmon passage in her backyard by clearing debris that washed into creek during rainstorm. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • High scchool students collecting data on stream conditions and salmon .occurrence. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino)
  • Maya LaBelle examining a chum salmon that died before it could lay its eggs in the creek. This “pre-spawn mortality’ may have been caused by toxic tire dust (6PPDq) that enters the creek through storm drains on roads.

There’s good news coming from the Edmonds Stream Team after completion of its annual adult salmon surveys last month in Edmonds’ Shell Creek and Lund’s Gulch Creek in Meadowdale Beach Park.

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2024 surveys show record number of salmon in Shell Creek

— Story and photos by Joe Scordino
Project leader, Edmonds Stream Team
January 1, 2025

High school students collecting data on stream conditions and salmon occurrence.

The Edmonds Stream Team completed its annual adult salmon surveys in Edmonds’ Shell Creek and Lunds Gulch Creek (located in Meadowdale Beach Park) in December. The Stream Team documented the highest number of chum salmon spawners in November 2024 since surveys began in Shell Creek in 2017.

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Comments from a packed council chambers set tone for Tuesday meeting

By Teresa Wippel, My Edmonds News
November 11, 2024

Business owner Erika Barnett urges the council to ensure Edmonds’ Comprehensive Plan protects the character of the city’s downtown.

Passionate comments about city planning, providing police and fire services, and protecting the character of downtown Edmonds dominated public testimony at Tuesday night’s Edmonds City Council meeting, as advocates for a range of viewpoints packed the council chambers to have their say.

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Salmon eggs begin Edmonds journey

Story and photos by Chris Walton
Posted: December 6, 2024

Kaelie Spencer, Edmonds Fish Hatchery manager, receives 85,000 coho salmon eggs at the state hatchery in Issaquah.

On Thursday, a team of Sound Salmon Solutions volunteers processed this year’s batch of coho salmon eggs at the Edmonds Fish Hatchery located at the foot of Pine Street in Edmonds.

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Reader View: Let’s extend the deadline for finalizing the Edmonds Comprehensive Plan

By Joan Bloom
Posted: December 1, 2024

An open letter to the Edmonds City Council and Mayor:

I can’t imagine how stressful this holiday season has been for all of you, given the financial state of the city, biennial budget deliberations, the Regional Fire Authority issue, and the Edmonds Comprehensive Plan update.

Many of us are extremely concerned that council will finalize the draft Comp Plan by year end. Yet, xouncil has six months after the Comp Plan update deadline of 12-31-24 to finalize the Comp Plan before the State preempts local control and enforces housing mandates.

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Letter – Unocal Edmonds Bulk Fuel Terminal 0178 cleanup

Point Edwards
Historical photo showing Lower Yard between oil tanks and railroad tracks

The attached letter was sent to Director Laura Watson, Washington State Department of Ecology, containing EEC’s comments requesting that the Feasibility Study be revised to include additional Alternatives and then re-submitted for public review and comment.

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Letter – Environmentally Sensitive Zoning and ‘Staggered’ approach to housing density zoning over 20-year Comp Plan

Letter sent to Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen, Edmonds City Council, and Edmonds Planning Director

From: Edmonds Environmental Council
November 25, 2025

Please see the linked OpEd piece in My Edmonds News yesterday and the comments to it.

Reader View: A better idea for Edmonds Comprehensive Plan update – ‘Environmentally Sensitive’ zoning
Continue reading “Letter – Environmentally Sensitive Zoning and ‘Staggered’ approach to housing density zoning over 20-year Comp Plan”

Reader View: A better idea for Edmonds Comprehensive Plan update – ‘Environmentally Sensitive’ zoning

By Joe Scordino
Posted: November 23, 2024

Joe Scordino
Joe Scordino

Much of Edmonds shouldn’t be further developed because of inadequate or antiquated infrastructure, or the area is already overbuilt for the existing landscape or it has unique landscapes and critical areas requiring additional restrictions. But our state Legislature didn’t take this into account when it mandated every city to update their Comprehensive (Comp) Plan to allow for increased housing density.

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Letter to Shell Creek residents

By Joe Scordino
November 23, 2024

Shell Creek Residents:

As many of you have noticed in your creek, we are having a banner year in the numbers of adult chum salmon returning to Shell Creek.

I want to THANK YOU for allowing the Edmonds Stream Team to continually access your property in the fall to collect data on the salmon run.  We’ll be continuing our salmon surveys into mid-December when most of our observations will probably shift to just examining dead salmon to collect data on their spawning success (we’re currently still seeing ‘new’  arrivals as  well as dead spawned-out salmon).

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Letter to Edmonds Stream Team

From Joe Scordino
November 23, 2024

Students – Linked below is a news article on the Edmonds Stream Team “coming to the rescue” to resolve a fish passage problem for spawning salmon in Shell Creek.  

The stream habitat and salmon abundance data collected by students was used to justify an emergency permit from the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to make changes to a blockage DURING the salmon run.  Normally, such instream work would not be allowed during salmon migration – – but I had the data (collected by students) to justify the emergency action.

So… THANK YOU for participating in the Stream Team.  You have made a big difference for our local salmon population!

Joe bypassing Shell creek salmon barrier
Joe bypassing Shell creek salmon barrier
Continue reading “Letter to Edmonds Stream Team”

Guest View – Perrinville pipe under tracks could spell disaster

Posted Saturday, November 23, 2024

By Bill Lider
Lider Engineering

One of the most important duties of City government is to protect the health and safety of its residents.  Besides the obvious police and fire protection, it is the Public Works department’s duty to assure the safety of its residents, too.

While potholes in public roads can be ignored or put off for a long time, or roads can be closed pending repairs, the rail traffic on the Edmonds waterfront cannot. Every day, tens of thousands of gallons of hazardous, toxic, and explosive materials move up and down the Edmonds waterfront.

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