EVERETT, Wash. — Everett's Northwest Barricade and Sign is in the business of protecting people on the road, but now the company is concerned about its own safety.
Major League Baseball is mandating upgrades to its minor league franchises across the country. A proposal to build a new stadium for the Everett AquaSox would force the family owned business of 14 years to be torn down.
"That's disastrous for a company like this," said company spokeswoman Amber Hardy.
Northwest Barricade is one of more than 20 businesses that would need to be bulldozed to make room for a new, $80 million downtown stadium.
"We had no idea about this until you guys called us," said Hardy. "I don't understand why it wasn't told to the businesses that we could possibly be relocated."
The site under consideration is a 10-acre parcel just east of Angel of he Winds Arena.
Workers fear if the business is forced to move, it may never reopen.
"Not only would we have to relocate, but it's finding another commercial building we could relocate to," Hardy said. "It's also the employees we have. Can they relocate?"
Among the issues with the 77-year-old stadium are locker rooms that are shared between the AquaSox, high school and college teams. There is no clubhouse. There is a 4-foot slope between home plate and the centerfield wall.
The manager for the stadium project, Scott Pattison, said downtown is just one of four options under consideration.
"The city has no preference at this point in time," he said.
Other stadium location options are to remodel the current stadium, tear it down and build a new one on the same site; build a new multi-use facility closer to downtown; or do nothing and likely lose the team.
That's an option the city would rather not have to consider. The team brings about $16 million a year to Everett and the AquaSox are a beloved part of the city's history.
"It's one of four sites we're considering," said Pattison. "There's a lot of work that still has to happen. We have to complete our environmental impact study. Once we do the EIS we'll have an idea as to whether we can even build downtown."
The EIS study is due at the end of the month and a final decision on a site is expected by the end of the year.
As the city waits for answers, so do all those businesses and leaves Hardy asking: "Where does it all leave us as far as keeping our business going?"