Concerned Mukilteo residents could kill new jobs

Mukilteo residents have a somewhat unique complaint that could kill a number of new jobs to the area.

Pacific Seafood wants to build a seafood processing plant near the Hilltop neighborhood in Mukilteo, but residents who live nearby are sounding alarms.

Their main complaint is that they might experience more traffic in the neighborhood, as well as the potential for a fishy smell.

Related: Rantz questions whether carbon tax will actually spur change

Let me quickly address both concerns: you’ll experience slightly more traffic and noise, and you’ll probably smell a little fish aroma. But you’ll get over it.

According to the Everett Herald, “The site now is home to a five-bay storage building, a stand-alone garage and a dilapidated mobile home. Aside from the gravel parking lot, the rest of the area is overgrown with grass, sticker bushes and young trees.”

So it sounds like a wonderful spot for meaningful development. And this would be meaningful. It would bring jobs to Snohomish County that will bring in an average salary of about $55,000 a year.

It’ll also have the added benefit of cleaning up an eyesore of the city. The company tells the Herald their committed to cleaning the spot up, with at least landscaping, the planting of new trees, and new sidewalks.

And, according to Bob Simon, the general manager of Pacific Seafood, this won’t even be a factory doing the “blood and guts type processing.” They’re doing “light processing,” which is why they’re even being considered in this particular neighborhood. So the concerns over the fishy smell seem misplaced to me, even if you might get a faint waft of fish on a windy day.

The City Council has to approve the development, and I hope they do.

Neighborhoods have a tendency to always react negatively to change, and in this case I don’t think they’re thinking about the big picture, which is continued economic development for the region. Change will always come with some drawbacks, such as traffic. But competent planning can mitigate the issues. I say build and don’t let hypersensitive concerns kill new jobs.