MUKILTEO, Wash. — Like his neighbors, Rick Harbert covets his suburban lifestyle, with spacious yards and room to breathe.
They are amenities that are fleeting for many families these days.
"It's a great suburban area to live in," he says. "Good schools, a good neighborhood. You couldn't ask for more."
But that idyllic lifestyle could soon be infringed upon.
Developers want to tear down a 340,000-square-foot business park along Harbour Heights Parkway and build up to 275 homes.
Folks in the neighboring communities say it's just too much.
Many of those living in Mukilteo believe the city is maxed out.
The city's population has grown by just 2,000 people over the 15 years, and that is intentional.
In a 2021 advisory vote, 81% of the people said they didn't want any more high-density housing in the city.
They felt things were just getting too crowded in a commuter town surrounded by Boeing and Puget Sound.
"It's getting harder and slower to get around," says Harbert. "Obviously, there's more people on arterials and freeways because there's more people here."
Then comes this plan to turn the Harbour Point Technical Center into a new high-density housing development. It would consist of 275 homes adjacent to six upscale communities where there are just four homes per acre.
The new development would be nearly double that.
Harbert visited some of the developer's other properties and took photos showing tightly packed homes in surroundings that have a distinctly different feel from the neighboring communities in Mukilteo.
That is what neighbors fear will be moving in.
"We want something that harmonizes with the current neighborhoods that have been here for 20 or 30 years," says Harbert.
Developers are finding an unlikely ally in Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine.
He is anti-additional-density but supports this project because he worries potential state mandates could make things even more crowded.
Marine points to House Bill 1110, enacted last year, which mandates Seattle allow at least four units on all residential lots.
In some cases, that number jumps to six.
Marine asks, "What new legislation comes down the road that makes it even harder for the cities to control that density that could be built there?"
Rick Harbert says the community would prefer 136 homes be built.
That's half of what the developer proposed.
Marine says developers have since come down to 200 -- for now.
"I think we can find common ground," he says.
"Why do something different?" Counters Harbert. "It's totally out of place."
The city council is tentatively scheduled to vote on the proposal Oct. 7.